C'est la vie (Chameleon the game that never reached us)

[Duelist]

Interesting, I've never heard of this game even though it was apparently popular and highly rated in my country.

I've downloaded and installed it. It was a mistake. DO NOT INSTALL POLISH VERSION of this game on windows 7. It uses old StarForce protection that will brick windows making it fail to boot. Only way to fix this (apart from format) is to remove 4 starforce .sys files from windows/system32/drivers.

[linukkis]

I dunno, I did exactly that, installed the Polish version on win 7 and experienced absolutely no problems at all. Strange...

[Duelist]

Hmm, did You install some SF protected game previously (maybe with newer version that supports w7) so Chameleon didn't have to? Also can You tell me what product version (not file version) is Your sfsync02.sys file in C:\Windows\System32\drivers. It can be checked in file details tab.

[Hunter]

[linukkis]

[Duelist]

StarForce drivers shouldn't uninstall with game I think, but it doesn't matter anymore. I gave up on polish version, it was impossible to run it on w7. I have downloaded some russian repack instead, installed BillyOwens's translation and it works fine.

I was also looking if it is possible to use its models in Mafia.



It is but textures are flipped upside down when exported from 3D Studio Max. They are fine in max so maybe texture format makes some difference for Mr. F's exporter.

[jimmen17]

This game makes me think - how much we can get out of LS3D engine? It's obvious that Mafia didn't use the full potential of it, since computers 15 years ago were not powerful enough to pull HD textures or hi-polygon models. Today we can see that astonishing mods like Titanic Mod for Mafia can look really great today on modern GPUs. However, most of the "remaster" mods for Mafia include just textures and models, but it's hard to find new animations, features, shaders.

I wonder if it's possible to "borrow" some parts of Chameleon or H&D2 LS3D source, to, for example, implement ragdoll physics to Mafia. Or better shading. That would definitely change how Mafia looks and how you can play it, without recreating the whole game with Unity or Unreal engine.

[AMadeMan]

Did Chameleon or H&D ever have ragdoll physics? That sounds a little too ambitious personally since you'd probably have to rewrite the engine's physics entirely, and that is likely impossible since we don't have access to the LS3D SDK.
If I'm wrong, Forgive me, i don't really know how LS3D works.

By the way, can anyone reupload the screenshots from page 1 since they no longer display?

Last edited by AMadeMan on Tue Dec 05, 2017 2:31 pm; edited 1 time in total

[jimmen17]

Chameleon had ragdoll physics - you could even drag bodies:


Check from 5:15

https://youtu.be/S2yWNvMPA2w

I don't know if you turned ragdoll if someone hit you with a car, but it looks like dead bodies work like that.

[AsaSK]

You don't seem to understand how the LS3D engine works
Chameleon was evidently built on an updated version, probably closer to the one previewed for Mafia II pre-production in 2004. Mafia's LS3D does not handle ragdoll physics, or even high-poly models once you reach the limit-per-scene (set by the engine?). Mr Robville has had to carefully optimise every part of his mod to make sure it runs smoothly, and even he's had to make sacrifices to do that. No matter how good your GPU is, a poorly optimised high-poly model or an HD texture will always make the game run badly because the engine was not designed for it. You can't change this without either modifying the engine itself (not easy without Illusion Softworks' SDK) or using external injection. It isn't possible to just 'put' stuff into Mafia because you want it to behave like it's running on Frostbite.
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The official Mafioso Mod thread

[AMadeMan]

Can anyone tell me where I can get an ISO or download of Chameleon? I've looked but nothing.

[AsaSK]

I still have it in my downloads folder I think, I'll upload it somewhere tomorrow when I get the chance. Sadly it's really only the first mission that really resembles Mafia in terms of texture reusage, etc, but it's a fun little game. The people models look like slightly higher-poly versions of those in Mafia, it almost seems strange seeing them in modern-day clothing!
As a whole, the game just feels kind of warm and familiar (plus, the file structure is excitingly compatible with many of the Mafia modding tools).
_________________

The official Mafioso Mod thread

[AMadeMan]

Any update on the upload of the game?