UPDATED 1/6/12, scroll down and look for the bold writing to see it
Hello everyone! (By everyone I mean anyone who happens to stumble onto this post)
I'm pretty new to the forums, so this is my first contribution to the community. I just wanted to show my current build project: a Minecraft version of Midwich Elementary School from the first Silent Hill game for Playstation. I'd love to get some feedback, suggestions, etc.
Basically I'd like to create the layout mostly accurate to the design in the game obviously limited to the blocks and scale available via Minecraft. (Not trying to make it extra detailed by making the building huge or anything). I actually have the game running on my Playstation so I can look directly at the game for reference while I'm building it in Minecraft.
The original plan for the project was simply to make the first for as regular (or foggy) Silent Hill, and the 2nd floor as the alternate (or Otherworld) Silent Hill. As I worked on the project I realized something. Making the regular school with what is available already in Minecraft wasn't hard. Making the alternate school was going to be either a lot more abstract as it wouldn't look much like the game if I just used netherblocks to complete it. I ended up working on textures specifically for the alternate school, even though I've never made textures or anything like that before.
So just a general note: I am reproducing it as ACCURATELY as possible. I literally ran around the school, room by room in the playstation game, and then did my best to reproduce it in Minecraft equivalent. All the signs, posters, etc. If you see a random red block sitting on a shelf in a classroom in my build, it means there is something red I couldn't reproduce that was otherwise sitting on that shelf in the real game. I've put a lot of hours in just doing the best I can to get the scale of everything as close as possible to the original game as well. So if something looks odd feel free to mention it.
Next is the screenshots section (some new ones added 1/6/12). I have revamped this section both so that screenshots of the original game are side-by-side with a similar screenshot I took in my build. I'd like to give credit to ghostdog from the rpgcodex forums who posted his "Let's walk the streets of Silent Hill" series. He did a great job of showing the events of the game in sequence and I used his screenshots to show the game material as reference as I am playing it on an actual playstation so I can't really do direct screenshots from it myself.
I'm sorry the screenshots are so small. There were so many I figured I'd combine pics and shrink them down to make the loading of the page much easier on everyone. The downside is I did a lot of wide pictures and found out the hard way that most of them were being cut off on the right side when I tried to post them here. Also if they appear cut off on the right side to anyone, that is because photobucket seems to take a bit to switch from one imagine I uploaded to another that I replaced it with.
Anyway, lets go on a little tour in the sequence that you normally might see things in the game.
Our protagonist is searching for his daughter in the town of Silent Hill. After following a series of clues, he is lead towards Midwich Elementary School.
Inside the dark building, he looks around the hallway and comes across a reception desk with some notes written in blood.
He then steps through the doorway in the back, finding a staff lounge with a disturbing painting. (Not so disturbing in minecraft though)
After returning to the hall, he finds the door leading into an infirmary. This room feels oddly safe to him.
After writing down a note of his travels, he leaves the infirmary. Both doors at the end of the hall are locked, so his only choice is to go out into the courtyard.
Where after killing another strange creature he found a clock tower with a sealed door, and two indentations signifying a golden sun, and a silver moon.
(Here is just another pic so you can see a bench, the drainage pipe, a tree, and a view of the clock tower. I know its funky on the top, but thats sort of a placeholder till I can think of a better way to do it since it's at an angle)
After he enters the doorway on the other side and going through another couple hallways...
He checks inside the bathrooms.
(another angle on bathroom)
and after finding more locked doors he makes his way upstairs.
(shot showing stairwell with the weird locked closet thingy)
Here he began to enter the classrooms to look for more clues
(Close up example of some of the weird text drawings I did on "chalkboards" and bulletin boards to at least somewhat try to copy what was in the game, you can see the original picture in the screenshot above)
He sometimes saw some very unsettling things
He entered a cramped store room with many files and chemicals, here he found some acid...
which helped him retrieve a golden medallion from the chemistry lab
He then entered the library
Which allowed him to get into the library reserve
After searching these rooms he crossed one of the 2nd floor hallways
Where he then came upon a locker room where he heard a rattling sound from one of the lockers.
After a feline-related fright, he then checked the nearby music room. Here he eventually solved a puzzle to receive a silver medallion.
Our hero then put the two medallions he earned into the depressions in the sides of the clock tower base. The time on the click and the note he read earlier lead him to next investigate the boiler room in the basement
After turning on the generator, he returned to the clock tower. The door was now unlocked so our hero cautiously stepped through. He found himself in a very tiny room with a ladder leading down a hole. (this looks kinda funky in minecraft due to the fact that it can't do diagonals well and I had very little room to work with.)
He then stepped into a small strange room. There was only one way to go, and a cryptic warning.
(note, the actual sign in the game is not completely legible. You can make out some of the words, so this is just what I put that makes the most sense compared to what you can barely make out from the game texture)
Our hero had a deep sense of dread on what he'd find after climbing that next ladder, but that didn't waver his resolve to find his missing daughter.
To be continued...
Alrighty now that the game-themed tour is over, here are a couple of the rooms you can't access in the game that I still put into the school. These are my own interpretations of what you might have found if those door's locked weren't broken or jammed or whatever excuse Silent Hill offers to impede your entry.
Other than some classrooms, (no screens for those as they look basically like every other classroom) there are a couple store rooms. One on the first floor, and a smaller one in the basement.
Then there is the mysterious "Hall". I agree with a theory I read on a forum that this room likely could be a dining area. Apparently one of the other silent hill games refers to a dining area in a building as a "hall" on the map, like a mess hall, and the size of the room supports that theory. Note: I have since realized after seeing the alternate school hall and recovering some common sense, that this room likely has a couple windows so it needs to be redone a little.
You can see I included some simple wooden tables (with abandoned lunch trays) and benches as you would likely see in a school, and a counter where there is half swinging door, refrigerator, stove, and of course glass display where the food would be covered to prevent sternutation related contamination.
Next is the rooftop area:
I originally was going to use an unfinished untextured room you could find with a walk through walls gameshark code to model what the foggy school roof would look like, but after examining it and comparing to the alternate school roof, I realized it really was probably thrown out in early design and just modeled my rooftop off the alternate school roof. Complete with the little drainage area that eventually becomes the purpose of the amazing rubber ball item.
Lastly, what's silent hill without a little fog eh? Well, a LOT of fog is more accurate. Here's some other fun shots with fog turned way up.
Also here's the entire map of the school for anyone who wants to look at some reference. Everything I have is of course laid out just as this map shows. (It was a valuable tool in the build process I assure you)
1/6/12 update:
Hello again! I apologize that this has taken so long. I really have no excuse other than a combination of about 50% RL issues, 10% computer problems, and 40% pure fail of just not working on it.
I had a long time of being afraid to touch it also as I thought the updated Minecraft might mess up or overwrite my map. Now that I got over that, it works fine on the newer versions except for apparently my school is now considered a snowy biome. It's kind of neat except that snow covers my carefully made courtyard which is annoying.
Now that it's available, I have transferred this map into creative mode which has GREATLY helped the project. In just a few days of working on it I have gotten a lot more work done.
The regular/foggy world school has long since been completed barring a tweak here or there. The alternate school I'm happy to say is pretty much complete now. There are a couple texture adjustments I need to make now that there are more blocks available than when I first started the project.
I took some screenshots to show off a bit of the alternate school. Not many shots are needed because most of the alternate school is a whole lot of the same thing. It has a lot less specific details than the regular school as far as stuff, but it's kind of made up for with new textures.
(Note, there is still a problem I have with being able to see through certain walls since I simply retextured existing blocks and used transparency on blocks that aren't supposed to be transparent. That is something I will look into after the building part is fully done).
Alternate Couryard:
Alternate Classroom:
Return to the locker room:
Stretcher in the basement:
Couldn't do a giant fan, but there's still a body back there:
The way to the boss:
I WILL be putting the map/texture pack combo up for DL when it's completed. I also will create a little video I can put on youtube to show it off. I also might make a 2nd texture pack that uses some of the textures I made in regular Minecraft just for fun, but I'll try to wait till this is done so I don't get sidetracked again.
I would love to hear any input, suggestions, comments, or any shout outs for some Silent Hill love. Also if there is anyone who is interested in helping with the project, whether it be information, help with textures, or anything else, just let me know.
A big thanks to those of you who have commented so far and helped me with a couple things. Also a HUGE thanks to those who have been patient with me.
Did a bunch of work today. Decided to put up a little update though the game crashed while I was taking screenshots and now it won't let me log back in. I'm sure lots of people are having troubles right now. Anywho, I'll show what I can for anyone who might see this. I have not gotten smart yet and set it up so I can play Silent Hill on the PC so I can take my own screenshots of the actual game for comparison, so I'm just using what shots I can find on the web for comparison.
Also you may notice there are some random paintings everywhere. Well for now, any place in the game there is a random note or picture on the wall I put a painting to symbolize it. If I am still headstrong enough in this project when I finish the building, I MAY attempt to make a silent hill themed texture set so I can dress it up nice, and in that case I'll replace at least some of the paintings to make more sense.
(Screenshots for this post have been moved to the first post. I'll get better at this I promise!)
I also have the infirmary done, which I will show screenshots of later. The next step is to either begin the courtyard, or the hallways. Don't worry, I won't post pictures of every single hallway since they all pretty much look the same.
So if there are any Silent Hill fans browsing this board that stumble on to this, please let me know what you think! I'd also be glad to hear any suggestions on what I could add, or things I could do differently. Sometimes it's hard deciding whether to match the look of the original game, or the spirit of what the object is. An example being, the actual game has a simple flat cyan bench to sit on in the lobby. I originally used some cyan wool blocks but it looked pretty goofy, especially since this bench is so low to the ground originally. So I just put some wooden steps side by side against the wall to look like a simple park bench.
I also used white wool for the ceiling just to make it look a little different. It gives it a stucco effect that the original game did not use, but I figured if I kept using iron blocks for everything it would start to look a bit odd.
That's all for now!
P.S. also since I'm new to this forum (and actually haven't done a lot of posting in forums in general), I'd appreciate any tips if I'm doing anything wrong in the world of forum etiquette like posting too many images at once or need to adjust the sizes or anything like that.
P.S.S. Also I'd GREATLY appreciate any info or sources that might help me get some of the accuracy down from the game. There are some things you just can't tell in the game due to lack of camera control. I know a very long time ago I saw a web page talking about a camera hack for a fan made PC port of the game, but I have not been able to find it again. As of right now I have no clue how to do the top of the lobby because you can not tell if it has a roof or if it goes straight up to the 2nd floor. (I want to say it does if I remember right). In the game you don't even get to see the Midwich Elementary sign out front so I'm very curious how that screenshot I found online did that angle. I know there's a decently accurate midwich map for left 4 dead I should probably check out, but any other info, websites, or leads will be immensely appreciated.
Ok gone for real now!
Well i have to say, That thing looks quite creepy with the lack of light, I like that. And it looks very similar. As similar as you can make it in block form that is. And for the forum etiquette I think all you did wrong is... Generaly not just Editing your OP (Opening post) With the new pics. Then you can bump this and say how you added more pics and stuff. Since no one else had posted. K? But then again that may just be my way of doing things lol.
But really, Great job on that build.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Btw. I made my avatar Graphic, Do not steal. Or use without Meh permission.
Awesome! Thank you Ignnis for being the first person to reply and prove that this post is noticed by someone!
To answer your question, right now I have the server properties set to no animals or monsters. While I'm working on it I definitely don't want a creeper to come knocking on my door. Redstone dust for blood is a very good idea though. I don't know why that idea never once came to me. It will be especially useful for the alternate floor I think. Thanks for the tip!
SJunior thanks for the heads up on the editing. For little responses like this I will probably do standard replies since they apply directly to posts above them, but for picture updates I will certainly follow your advice.
Thanks guys! Keep an eye on it as I'm going to put a lot of work on it over the next few days I hope. No work tomorrow XD
Excellent job! But I must ask, what did you use to take a screenshot?
In Minecraft or in Silent Hill?
The current version of Minecraft allows you to take screenshots with F2. You can find the pictures in the screenshots folder created in the .minecraft folder under:
\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\.minecraft\screenshots
For Silent Hill I am basically searching google images for various strings such as
silent hill midwich reception
and getting lucky lol
If anyone can suggest a good tool to take screenshots off something like epsxe then I might take my own so that they can match the minecraft one's angles perfectly.
Oh! Btw, Kbox. Try holding down F1,And then Click F2. Then you can take a screen shot with out you avatar's hand, The 1-9 Tool boxes? (Don't know what to call the thingy that holds your items...Quick bar i think?) It makes the pic look MUCH nicer ^^
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Btw. I made my avatar Graphic, Do not steal. Or use without Meh permission.
Oh! Btw, Kbox. Try holding down F1,And then Click F2. Then you can take a screen shot with out you avatar's hand, The 1-9 Tool boxes? (Don't know what to call the thingy that holds your items...Quick bar i think?) It makes the pic look MUCH nicer ^^
Awesome! I didn't know about that one. I will surely do that from now on.
In my fighting to try to get back into the server, I just wanted to make sure whether it was an issue with the game or my connection, I tried to connect to a different server. Didn't work unsurprisingly, but then a little after I managed to get into my server, but I wasn't in the school. Apparently it sent me back to start with none of my inventory. Is this a common bug if you bounce between servers?
What's worse is to make sure I didn't go into the wrong server again I exited and now I can't get back in again XD
I suppose that I really should just give up for tonight and try again tomorrow. Thanks again for the input and info guys!
INFO UPDATE 1/21/11
So I've put in a TON of work today, but no good new screens right now. I realized I had a couple minor room scale issues compared to the original game so I had to tweak my building to be 2 blocks shorter width on each side. That was a lot of work. I then spent a long time examining the game map and making my own grid map so I could make sure I don't make a mistake like that again. So I now have a layout to look at for every floor to make sure I know exactly how many blocks wide and long for every room and hallway.
Like this:
Original game map:
I then went ahead and decided to at least plot the outer edge of the building in the game and had to spend a long while digging away the hills nearby to make room. A little sped things up at the end. So now I can stand up on top of the building and look out and see how much work is ahead of me. Oof.
So if you look at the map I just showed, the following areas are finished I believe: front of the building, lobby, southern hallway, reception, lounge, infirmary, and the extremely long western hallway along with part of the stairwell.
The next step is the rooms on that side, starting with the restrooms most likely. After that I'll probably knock the courtyard out.
There are 2 things I'd really like you're guys help with. First, I know its a minor thing but I'm still wondering whether I should stick to the wool ceiling to give it that stucco look, also so that it might be more pleasing to the eye to have the roof look different than the walls. Or should I be more accurate to the game, where the ceiling is simply solid white in which I'd be doing it in iron blocks just like I did the wall.
The 2nd is less likely but I'd love if there are any intrepid Silent Hill fans out there that might be able to describe to me or direct me to information on some of the design of the lobby. In the game you absolutely can not move the camera to a point that you can see very high, you can only just see the edges of the wall above you and it doesn't SEEM like it has a ceiling flush with the ceiling of the hallways. I'm pretty sure on the 2nd floor of the alternate school you see a body in a wire mesh sorta suspended over the 1st floor like there's no ceiling/floor between the 1st/2nd floor in the lobby. Just one very tall room. But I don't know if that's the standard design or just something you only see in the alternate side like how some other architectural modifications made by the denizens of the Otherworld.
That's all for now. In a day or two I will hopefully replace the screens with better ones and have something new to show.
So this is an update bump. So between yesterday and today I've put in a lot more work on this project, and have a bunch of new pictures to show! Some of the old pictures have been replaced and a couple unnecessary ones were removed too.
I'm really happy with how this project is coming so far, even though my own obsessiveness is making the work take forever. I have been making sure pictures I put up to represent posters are the correct size. I have been using signboards to represent chalkboards and bulletin boards in the halls, and actually writing on them close representations to what is actually shown in the game. I have been fighting for long amounts of time trying to compensate for the fact that my structure uses an odd number of blocks for it's overall dimensions because the entrance was the first part I designed and it was necessary to make that front door look right. Unfortunately when it came time to make the courtyard, it created some issues. Damn the silent hill creators for making half-sized blocks in their original design! Didn't they ever think of my eventual Minecraft conundrums! Overall though it all looks pretty decent if I say so myself.
Now if at least one person sees this board and either plays the game again or remembers it well enough to compliment one of the little details I did that most people wouldn't notice, or remember, or care about, then it will be worth it.
ANYWAY, this little grid map shows how much is finished on the first floor. Everything in YELLOW is done for the first floor.
An astute Silent Hill fan might realize that the only white rooms left are the rooms you can not enter in the non-alternate Midwich Elementary due to the bane of jammed locks that can not be opened. I have not decided whether I will change those doors into iron doors or not to simulate lock-jammedness, but whether I do or not I will still be filling out those rooms! This will be the first time I don't model what I do directly off the actual game and use my own judgement to what it will be. This is where any input from you guys would be critical.
For the storage room, there's actually a video online from someone who went into the unfinished storage room with a walk through walls code, so I at least know theres shelving in there and on what wall.
The classrooms will be easy, as I know the basic design of other classrooms and will just randomize the posters and random junk just slightly.
The hall however, is somewhat of a mystery. You enter it in the alternate school, but pretty much none of the alternate rooms really can be used for any basis on what it looked like in regular foggy silent hill. On one forum someone argued that it is likely the cafeteria, as one of the other silent hill games labels a dining area as hall. Like in mess hall. That logic and the size of the room make this the most valid argument I've seen so that is likely what I will attempt to make it. If anyone has any input on the hall, please let me know!
Oh and if you didn't already see it, see the map I posted above of the original game's map if you are unsure what rooms I'm talking about here.
After this first foor is finally finished, then a critical moment comes. I must decide whether I go with my original plan to make the 2nd floor the alternate floor, just so you get both flavors if you were to walk around in this map. The alternative, is if I feel headstrong enough to do the work, I make it so you actually can go through a tunnel behind the clock tower that will lead to an entire alternate school. My drive to double the size of this project will determine largely on 3 things. First, whether by the time I'm done with the regular school it seems worth doing the extra work. Two, the viability of creating the alternate school. Lots of things fell into place in wonderful ways as I worked on the school, but I have a feeling trying to match the style of the alternate school will be a much greater challenge. ESPECIALLY since I was banking on using the monster spawner cage as metal grating since alternate silent hill is almost 80% metal grating. However that was based on the last time I ever used a give command to grab a metal grating, back when monster did not even appear in SMP, and before giving yourself that block contained a flaming pig on the inside =\
If anyone knows if there is a way to retexture one of the other blocks to have transparency so I can make a new metal block, or use some kind of mod to achieve the effect I want, please PLEASE let me know.
Anyway the third factor of taking on that challenge is obviously whether anyone else in the world cares. I may have started this project for myself, but seeing other people's interest and knowing there are some other Silent Hill fans out there that appreciate this would really contribute to my drive on this project.
So as I said before, please give me your feedback =D
So is this singleplayer or multiplayer??? if it is multi i will FLIP OUT and just wanna know if its open to the public?
As of right now I'm running it on a private multiplayer server. Originally it was just because I wanted to focus on the build and not the survival aspects so I turned off monsters and used server commands to give myself all the materials. However since the project has grown bigger than I originally planned, I do plan to make a copy available to the public either through a public server or just uploading a copy of the map somewhere.
I totally understand that for some things screenshots just aren't enough. You want to walk around in it =)
Also I did a bunch more work last night. The entire first floor is now finished, the basement is finished, the clock tower is finished, and I have started work on the 2nd floor.
New screens for some of that will be up soon so keep an eye on this board.
Also I just want to thank you guys for the feedback! I truly do appreciate it
Quick update bump. (sorry didn't have time to add new pics tonight. Work early, I will try tomorrow)
Just wanted to mention that a lot of work is still being done. The 2nd floor is entirely finished, as well as the basement if I didn't already mention that last time. All that is left is the roof of the school. This part might be a little
tricky as it is another area that is not accessible in the regular game (at least the regular non-hellish roof).
I need to examine the design of the alternate roof and possibly some shots I found online of an unfinished version of the roof that has been found in the game with a walk through walls code. Once that is done then the regular school construction is finished! Then it will simply come down to whether I feel up to the task of making a new texture pack, and then construction begins on the alternate school.
That will be a REAL challenge since the entire alternate school I will be building underground both so it is not visible from the regular school and so that it will always look like its dark outside like in the game's alternate world. I'm going to need a lot of for this one.
I'll get some pics up tomorrow on the new rooms from the 2nd floor and the basement!
If you check the initial post, I basically rewrote the whole thing and have changed all the screenshots. I basically did a little walk through tour of the structure in the order you would see it as you are playing the game more or less. I took the time to stick original game screenshots I got from ghostdog's "Let's walk the streets of Silent Hill" post on rpgcodex next to new screenshots I took from in Minecraft.
Unfortunately I found out that they were too wide after I did all the work and they were being cut off on the right side, so I had to shrink them down a little. If these screenshots are too small or hard to see, just let me know and I will try to redo them soon. I just changed things this way so there wouldn't be hundreds of pictures loading. There are enough as it is XD
Anyway the foggy school is finished! There might be a tweak here or there to be made based on any feedback or anything I notice, but other than that it is complete. I might take a short break from work on it and then start mining out the huge cavern I will need for the alternate school. That or I might dabble around with attempting to make some alternate school textures and test that first.
Also a funny thing happened. While I was extending the front yard of the school a little bit, I was backing up as I placed dirt, and at the end of the area I was doing, I turned around to find myself close to falling into this:
I've heard that this is a chunk error that can sometimes happen on loading the map, and I've seen it happen one other time in this map (right through the corner of the school, removing the infirmary ><)
Luckily I have been making multiple backups of my map as I work on it, but is there anything specific that might cause this or something I can do to avoid it? I'd hate to be working on the alternate school later and not be aware a huge chunk has been eaten out of the regular school without me knowing.
Anyway thanks again everyone and I will be keeping an eye on this board while I plan out the next stage of the project.
For the limitations of Minecraft, you did an astounding job. The piano was very nice =). As for chunk errors, I've only experienced them in SMP, and all they do is prevent your character from actually moving through them, you can't fall in or toss items in and whatnot. Reconnecting will fix them (more may generate elsewhere, though). I've never had them really delete anything, but some have claimed that they do, so it's smart that you are backing the file up.
Hello everyone! (By everyone I mean anyone who happens to stumble onto this post)
I'm pretty new to the forums, so this is my first contribution to the community. I just wanted to show my current build project: a Minecraft version of Midwich Elementary School from the first Silent Hill game for Playstation. I'd love to get some feedback, suggestions, etc.
Basically I'd like to create the layout mostly accurate to the design in the game obviously limited to the blocks and scale available via Minecraft. (Not trying to make it extra detailed by making the building huge or anything). I actually have the game running on my Playstation so I can look directly at the game for reference while I'm building it in Minecraft.
The original plan for the project was simply to make the first for as regular (or foggy) Silent Hill, and the 2nd floor as the alternate (or Otherworld) Silent Hill. As I worked on the project I realized something. Making the regular school with what is available already in Minecraft wasn't hard. Making the alternate school was going to be either a lot more abstract as it wouldn't look much like the game if I just used netherblocks to complete it. I ended up working on textures specifically for the alternate school, even though I've never made textures or anything like that before.
So just a general note: I am reproducing it as ACCURATELY as possible. I literally ran around the school, room by room in the playstation game, and then did my best to reproduce it in Minecraft equivalent. All the signs, posters, etc. If you see a random red block sitting on a shelf in a classroom in my build, it means there is something red I couldn't reproduce that was otherwise sitting on that shelf in the real game. I've put a lot of hours in just doing the best I can to get the scale of everything as close as possible to the original game as well. So if something looks odd feel free to mention it.
Next is the screenshots section (some new ones added 1/6/12). I have revamped this section both so that screenshots of the original game are side-by-side with a similar screenshot I took in my build. I'd like to give credit to ghostdog from the rpgcodex forums who posted his "Let's walk the streets of Silent Hill" series. He did a great job of showing the events of the game in sequence and I used his screenshots to show the game material as reference as I am playing it on an actual playstation so I can't really do direct screenshots from it myself.
I'm sorry the screenshots are so small. There were so many I figured I'd combine pics and shrink them down to make the loading of the page much easier on everyone. The downside is I did a lot of wide pictures and found out the hard way that most of them were being cut off on the right side when I tried to post them here. Also if they appear cut off on the right side to anyone, that is because photobucket seems to take a bit to switch from one imagine I uploaded to another that I replaced it with.
Anyway, lets go on a little tour in the sequence that you normally might see things in the game.
Our protagonist is searching for his daughter in the town of Silent Hill. After following a series of clues, he is lead towards Midwich Elementary School.
Inside the dark building, he looks around the hallway and comes across a reception desk with some notes written in blood.
He then steps through the doorway in the back, finding a staff lounge with a disturbing painting. (Not so disturbing in minecraft though)
After returning to the hall, he finds the door leading into an infirmary. This room feels oddly safe to him.
After writing down a note of his travels, he leaves the infirmary. Both doors at the end of the hall are locked, so his only choice is to go out into the courtyard.
Where after killing another strange creature he found a clock tower with a sealed door, and two indentations signifying a golden sun, and a silver moon.
(Here is just another pic so you can see a bench, the drainage pipe, a tree, and a view of the clock tower. I know its funky on the top, but thats sort of a placeholder till I can think of a better way to do it since it's at an angle)
After he enters the doorway on the other side and going through another couple hallways...
He checks inside the bathrooms.
(another angle on bathroom)
and after finding more locked doors he makes his way upstairs.
(shot showing stairwell with the weird locked closet thingy)
Here he began to enter the classrooms to look for more clues
(Close up example of some of the weird text drawings I did on "chalkboards" and bulletin boards to at least somewhat try to copy what was in the game, you can see the original picture in the screenshot above)
He sometimes saw some very unsettling things
He entered a cramped store room with many files and chemicals, here he found some acid...
which helped him retrieve a golden medallion from the chemistry lab
He then entered the library
Which allowed him to get into the library reserve
After searching these rooms he crossed one of the 2nd floor hallways
Where he then came upon a locker room where he heard a rattling sound from one of the lockers.
After a feline-related fright, he then checked the nearby music room. Here he eventually solved a puzzle to receive a silver medallion.
Our hero then put the two medallions he earned into the depressions in the sides of the clock tower base. The time on the click and the note he read earlier lead him to next investigate the boiler room in the basement
After turning on the generator, he returned to the clock tower. The door was now unlocked so our hero cautiously stepped through. He found himself in a very tiny room with a ladder leading down a hole. (this looks kinda funky in minecraft due to the fact that it can't do diagonals well and I had very little room to work with.)
He then stepped into a small strange room. There was only one way to go, and a cryptic warning.
(note, the actual sign in the game is not completely legible. You can make out some of the words, so this is just what I put that makes the most sense compared to what you can barely make out from the game texture)
Our hero had a deep sense of dread on what he'd find after climbing that next ladder, but that didn't waver his resolve to find his missing daughter.
To be continued...
Alrighty now that the game-themed tour is over, here are a couple of the rooms you can't access in the game that I still put into the school. These are my own interpretations of what you might have found if those door's locked weren't broken or jammed or whatever excuse Silent Hill offers to impede your entry.
Other than some classrooms, (no screens for those as they look basically like every other classroom) there are a couple store rooms. One on the first floor, and a smaller one in the basement.
Then there is the mysterious "Hall". I agree with a theory I read on a forum that this room likely could be a dining area. Apparently one of the other silent hill games refers to a dining area in a building as a "hall" on the map, like a mess hall, and the size of the room supports that theory. Note: I have since realized after seeing the alternate school hall and recovering some common sense, that this room likely has a couple windows so it needs to be redone a little.
You can see I included some simple wooden tables (with abandoned lunch trays) and benches as you would likely see in a school, and a counter where there is half swinging door, refrigerator, stove, and of course glass display where the food would be covered to prevent sternutation related contamination.
Next is the rooftop area:
I originally was going to use an unfinished untextured room you could find with a walk through walls gameshark code to model what the foggy school roof would look like, but after examining it and comparing to the alternate school roof, I realized it really was probably thrown out in early design and just modeled my rooftop off the alternate school roof. Complete with the little drainage area that eventually becomes the purpose of the amazing rubber ball item.
Lastly, what's silent hill without a little fog eh? Well, a LOT of fog is more accurate. Here's some other fun shots with fog turned way up.
Also here's the entire map of the school for anyone who wants to look at some reference. Everything I have is of course laid out just as this map shows. (It was a valuable tool in the build process I assure you)
1/6/12 update:
Hello again! I apologize that this has taken so long. I really have no excuse other than a combination of about 50% RL issues, 10% computer problems, and 40% pure fail of just not working on it.
I had a long time of being afraid to touch it also as I thought the updated Minecraft might mess up or overwrite my map. Now that I got over that, it works fine on the newer versions except for apparently my school is now considered a snowy biome. It's kind of neat except that snow covers my carefully made courtyard which is annoying.
Now that it's available, I have transferred this map into creative mode which has GREATLY helped the project. In just a few days of working on it I have gotten a lot more work done.
The regular/foggy world school has long since been completed barring a tweak here or there. The alternate school I'm happy to say is pretty much complete now. There are a couple texture adjustments I need to make now that there are more blocks available than when I first started the project.
I took some screenshots to show off a bit of the alternate school. Not many shots are needed because most of the alternate school is a whole lot of the same thing. It has a lot less specific details than the regular school as far as stuff, but it's kind of made up for with new textures.
(Note, there is still a problem I have with being able to see through certain walls since I simply retextured existing blocks and used transparency on blocks that aren't supposed to be transparent. That is something I will look into after the building part is fully done).
Alternate Couryard:
Alternate Classroom:
Return to the locker room:
Stretcher in the basement:
Couldn't do a giant fan, but there's still a body back there:
The way to the boss:
I WILL be putting the map/texture pack combo up for DL when it's completed. I also will create a little video I can put on youtube to show it off. I also might make a 2nd texture pack that uses some of the textures I made in regular Minecraft just for fun, but I'll try to wait till this is done so I don't get sidetracked again.
I would love to hear any input, suggestions, comments, or any shout outs for some Silent Hill love. Also if there is anyone who is interested in helping with the project, whether it be information, help with textures, or anything else, just let me know.
A big thanks to those of you who have commented so far and helped me with a couple things. Also a HUGE thanks to those who have been patient with me.
Kbox, a.k.a. Chakker =)
My Silent Hill Minecraft Project
Also you may notice there are some random paintings everywhere. Well for now, any place in the game there is a random note or picture on the wall I put a painting to symbolize it. If I am still headstrong enough in this project when I finish the building, I MAY attempt to make a silent hill themed texture set so I can dress it up nice, and in that case I'll replace at least some of the paintings to make more sense.
(Screenshots for this post have been moved to the first post. I'll get better at this I promise!)
I also have the infirmary done, which I will show screenshots of later. The next step is to either begin the courtyard, or the hallways. Don't worry, I won't post pictures of every single hallway since they all pretty much look the same.
So if there are any Silent Hill fans browsing this board that stumble on to this, please let me know what you think! I'd also be glad to hear any suggestions on what I could add, or things I could do differently. Sometimes it's hard deciding whether to match the look of the original game, or the spirit of what the object is. An example being, the actual game has a simple flat cyan bench to sit on in the lobby. I originally used some cyan wool blocks but it looked pretty goofy, especially since this bench is so low to the ground originally. So I just put some wooden steps side by side against the wall to look like a simple park bench.
I also used white wool for the ceiling just to make it look a little different. It gives it a stucco effect that the original game did not use, but I figured if I kept using iron blocks for everything it would start to look a bit odd.
That's all for now!
P.S. also since I'm new to this forum (and actually haven't done a lot of posting in forums in general), I'd appreciate any tips if I'm doing anything wrong in the world of forum etiquette like posting too many images at once or need to adjust the sizes or anything like that.
P.S.S. Also I'd GREATLY appreciate any info or sources that might help me get some of the accuracy down from the game. There are some things you just can't tell in the game due to lack of camera control. I know a very long time ago I saw a web page talking about a camera hack for a fan made PC port of the game, but I have not been able to find it again. As of right now I have no clue how to do the top of the lobby because you can not tell if it has a roof or if it goes straight up to the 2nd floor. (I want to say it does if I remember right). In the game you don't even get to see the Midwich Elementary sign out front so I'm very curious how that screenshot I found online did that angle. I know there's a decently accurate midwich map for left 4 dead I should probably check out, but any other info, websites, or leads will be immensely appreciated.
Ok gone for real now!
My Silent Hill Minecraft Project
But really, Great job on that build.
Btw. I made my avatar Graphic, Do not steal. Or use without Meh permission.
To answer your question, right now I have the server properties set to no animals or monsters. While I'm working on it I definitely don't want a creeper to come knocking on my door. Redstone dust for blood is a very good idea though. I don't know why that idea never once came to me. It will be especially useful for the alternate floor I think. Thanks for the tip!
SJunior thanks for the heads up on the editing. For little responses like this I will probably do standard replies since they apply directly to posts above them, but for picture updates I will certainly follow your advice.
Thanks guys! Keep an eye on it as I'm going to put a lot of work on it over the next few days I hope. No work tomorrow XD
My Silent Hill Minecraft Project
In Minecraft or in Silent Hill?
The current version of Minecraft allows you to take screenshots with F2. You can find the pictures in the screenshots folder created in the .minecraft folder under:
\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\.minecraft\screenshots
For Silent Hill I am basically searching google images for various strings such as
silent hill midwich reception
and getting lucky lol
If anyone can suggest a good tool to take screenshots off something like epsxe then I might take my own so that they can match the minecraft one's angles perfectly.
My Silent Hill Minecraft Project
I agree with whoever said monsters spawning, lol.
Btw. I made my avatar Graphic, Do not steal. Or use without Meh permission.
Awesome! I didn't know about that one. I will surely do that from now on.
My Silent Hill Minecraft Project
In my fighting to try to get back into the server, I just wanted to make sure whether it was an issue with the game or my connection, I tried to connect to a different server. Didn't work unsurprisingly, but then a little after I managed to get into my server, but I wasn't in the school. Apparently it sent me back to start with none of my inventory. Is this a common bug if you bounce between servers?
What's worse is to make sure I didn't go into the wrong server again I exited and now I can't get back in again XD
I suppose that I really should just give up for tonight and try again tomorrow. Thanks again for the input and info guys!
My Silent Hill Minecraft Project
So I've put in a TON of work today, but no good new screens right now. I realized I had a couple minor room scale issues compared to the original game so I had to tweak my building to be 2 blocks shorter width on each side. That was a lot of work. I then spent a long time examining the game map and making my own grid map so I could make sure I don't make a mistake like that again. So I now have a layout to look at for every floor to make sure I know exactly how many blocks wide and long for every room and hallway.
Like this:
Original game map:
I then went ahead and decided to at least plot the outer edge of the building in the game and had to spend a long while digging away the hills nearby to make room. A little sped things up at the end. So now I can stand up on top of the building and look out and see how much work is ahead of me. Oof.
So if you look at the map I just showed, the following areas are finished I believe: front of the building, lobby, southern hallway, reception, lounge, infirmary, and the extremely long western hallway along with part of the stairwell.
The next step is the rooms on that side, starting with the restrooms most likely. After that I'll probably knock the courtyard out.
There are 2 things I'd really like you're guys help with. First, I know its a minor thing but I'm still wondering whether I should stick to the wool ceiling to give it that stucco look, also so that it might be more pleasing to the eye to have the roof look different than the walls. Or should I be more accurate to the game, where the ceiling is simply solid white in which I'd be doing it in iron blocks just like I did the wall.
The 2nd is less likely but I'd love if there are any intrepid Silent Hill fans out there that might be able to describe to me or direct me to information on some of the design of the lobby. In the game you absolutely can not move the camera to a point that you can see very high, you can only just see the edges of the wall above you and it doesn't SEEM like it has a ceiling flush with the ceiling of the hallways. I'm pretty sure on the 2nd floor of the alternate school you see a body in a wire mesh sorta suspended over the 1st floor like there's no ceiling/floor between the 1st/2nd floor in the lobby. Just one very tall room. But I don't know if that's the standard design or just something you only see in the alternate side like how some other architectural modifications made by the denizens of the Otherworld.
That's all for now. In a day or two I will hopefully replace the screens with better ones and have something new to show.
My Silent Hill Minecraft Project
I'm really happy with how this project is coming so far, even though my own obsessiveness is making the work take forever. I have been making sure pictures I put up to represent posters are the correct size. I have been using signboards to represent chalkboards and bulletin boards in the halls, and actually writing on them close representations to what is actually shown in the game. I have been fighting for long amounts of time trying to compensate for the fact that my structure uses an odd number of blocks for it's overall dimensions because the entrance was the first part I designed and it was necessary to make that front door look right. Unfortunately when it came time to make the courtyard, it created some issues. Damn the silent hill creators for making half-sized blocks in their original design! Didn't they ever think of my eventual Minecraft conundrums! Overall though it all looks pretty decent if I say so myself.
Now if at least one person sees this board and either plays the game again or remembers it well enough to compliment one of the little details I did that most people wouldn't notice, or remember, or care about, then it will be worth it.
ANYWAY, this little grid map shows how much is finished on the first floor. Everything in YELLOW is done for the first floor.
An astute Silent Hill fan might realize that the only white rooms left are the rooms you can not enter in the non-alternate Midwich Elementary due to the bane of jammed locks that can not be opened. I have not decided whether I will change those doors into iron doors or not to simulate lock-jammedness, but whether I do or not I will still be filling out those rooms! This will be the first time I don't model what I do directly off the actual game and use my own judgement to what it will be. This is where any input from you guys would be critical.
For the storage room, there's actually a video online from someone who went into the unfinished storage room with a walk through walls code, so I at least know theres shelving in there and on what wall.
The classrooms will be easy, as I know the basic design of other classrooms and will just randomize the posters and random junk just slightly.
The hall however, is somewhat of a mystery. You enter it in the alternate school, but pretty much none of the alternate rooms really can be used for any basis on what it looked like in regular foggy silent hill. On one forum someone argued that it is likely the cafeteria, as one of the other silent hill games labels a dining area as hall. Like in mess hall. That logic and the size of the room make this the most valid argument I've seen so that is likely what I will attempt to make it. If anyone has any input on the hall, please let me know!
Oh and if you didn't already see it, see the map I posted above of the original game's map if you are unsure what rooms I'm talking about here.
After this first foor is finally finished, then a critical moment comes. I must decide whether I go with my original plan to make the 2nd floor the alternate floor, just so you get both flavors if you were to walk around in this map. The alternative, is if I feel headstrong enough to do the work, I make it so you actually can go through a tunnel behind the clock tower that will lead to an entire alternate school. My drive to double the size of this project will determine largely on 3 things. First, whether by the time I'm done with the regular school it seems worth doing the extra work. Two, the viability of creating the alternate school. Lots of things fell into place in wonderful ways as I worked on the school, but I have a feeling trying to match the style of the alternate school will be a much greater challenge. ESPECIALLY since I was banking on using the monster spawner cage as metal grating since alternate silent hill is almost 80% metal grating. However that was based on the last time I ever used a give command to grab a metal grating, back when monster did not even appear in SMP, and before giving yourself that block contained a flaming pig on the inside =\
If anyone knows if there is a way to retexture one of the other blocks to have transparency so I can make a new metal block, or use some kind of mod to achieve the effect I want, please PLEASE let me know.
Anyway the third factor of taking on that challenge is obviously whether anyone else in the world cares. I may have started this project for myself, but seeing other people's interest and knowing there are some other Silent Hill fans out there that appreciate this would really contribute to my drive on this project.
So as I said before, please give me your feedback =D
P.s. sorry that update was so insanely long!
My Silent Hill Minecraft Project
OTHER WORLD
As of right now I'm running it on a private multiplayer server. Originally it was just because I wanted to focus on the build and not the survival aspects so I turned off monsters and used server commands to give myself all the materials. However since the project has grown bigger than I originally planned, I do plan to make a copy available to the public either through a public server or just uploading a copy of the map somewhere.
I totally understand that for some things screenshots just aren't enough. You want to walk around in it =)
Also I did a bunch more work last night. The entire first floor is now finished, the basement is finished, the clock tower is finished, and I have started work on the 2nd floor.
New screens for some of that will be up soon so keep an eye on this board.
Also I just want to thank you guys for the feedback! I truly do appreciate it
My Silent Hill Minecraft Project
Have a for all your awesome!
Just wanted to mention that a lot of work is still being done. The 2nd floor is entirely finished, as well as the basement if I didn't already mention that last time. All that is left is the roof of the school. This part might be a little
tricky as it is another area that is not accessible in the regular game (at least the regular non-hellish roof).
I need to examine the design of the alternate roof and possibly some shots I found online of an unfinished version of the roof that has been found in the game with a walk through walls code. Once that is done then the regular school construction is finished! Then it will simply come down to whether I feel up to the task of making a new texture pack, and then construction begins on the alternate school.
That will be a REAL challenge since the entire alternate school I will be building underground both so it is not visible from the regular school and so that it will always look like its dark outside like in the game's alternate world. I'm going to need a lot of for this one.
I'll get some pics up tomorrow on the new rooms from the 2nd floor and the basement!
My Silent Hill Minecraft Project
If you check the initial post, I basically rewrote the whole thing and have changed all the screenshots. I basically did a little walk through tour of the structure in the order you would see it as you are playing the game more or less. I took the time to stick original game screenshots I got from ghostdog's "Let's walk the streets of Silent Hill" post on rpgcodex next to new screenshots I took from in Minecraft.
Unfortunately I found out that they were too wide after I did all the work and they were being cut off on the right side, so I had to shrink them down a little. If these screenshots are too small or hard to see, just let me know and I will try to redo them soon. I just changed things this way so there wouldn't be hundreds of pictures loading. There are enough as it is XD
Anyway the foggy school is finished! There might be a tweak here or there to be made based on any feedback or anything I notice, but other than that it is complete. I might take a short break from work on it and then start mining out the huge cavern I will need for the alternate school. That or I might dabble around with attempting to make some alternate school textures and test that first.
Also a funny thing happened. While I was extending the front yard of the school a little bit, I was backing up as I placed dirt, and at the end of the area I was doing, I turned around to find myself close to falling into this:
I've heard that this is a chunk error that can sometimes happen on loading the map, and I've seen it happen one other time in this map (right through the corner of the school, removing the infirmary ><)
Luckily I have been making multiple backups of my map as I work on it, but is there anything specific that might cause this or something I can do to avoid it? I'd hate to be working on the alternate school later and not be aware a huge chunk has been eaten out of the regular school without me knowing.
Anyway thanks again everyone and I will be keeping an eye on this board while I plan out the next stage of the project.
My Silent Hill Minecraft Project