City of Exploration: Faultline Shanty Town

[OpMegs]

So, Demo was browsing about Faultline, generally enjoying her own WP inspired invincibility and cleaning up the streets of Lost that'd prey on her
coworkers....



However, wandering as she was, she came upon an odd sight: a barricade of cars patrolled by Lost.



Figuring this was worth checking out, she went inside and took a looksee





This Shanty town was full of Lost undergoing their conversions. However, the inhabitants didn't take kindly to her presence.



However, after clearing out a few, she was able to get a good look from atop a hill.



Now, this place isn't that far from a location most people know. Starting at Agent' G's base:



Turn around and just keep going forward till the cliff edge.



Take a hard right until you run into a contested zone between Freaks, Lost, and Arachnos.



Follow the road, but turn right when you pass the big warehouse entirely.



Seeing a collapsed parking garage, head for it.





From there, turn all the way right, towards the dam. You'll see the front gates of the Lost City.



Who says there's nothing new to look for in this game in old areas?
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Bob Schroeck]

Huh. I don't think I've ever seen that before.

Say, btw, does anyone know if they ever fixed the "hole in the world" that existed somewhere at the bottom orf a crevasse along the east edge of the
zone? I was shown it about a year ago, so I would think so, but I was just curious...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Logan Darklighter]

I've seen this area before. I guess it's easy to miss because there's normally no reason to go in that direction. I don't think there are even
any mission doors there.

As to the hole in the world.

Actually, the one that I knew of was at in the south area of Faultline beyond the dam. In fact, if you exited the "control room" area of the dam,
immediately turned right and walked along the wall of the dam (facing north) there was a tree close to the wall with a low spot in the ground nearby. That low
spot used to hide a hole in the geometry that was easy to fall through. It's since been filled in during Beta before the new Faultline went to the live
servers. But I took Lora'Lai through that hole and flew around for a bit under the world.

IIRC the dam itself extended a ways down, so you had to fly under it and then up again to see the rest of the zone from the underside. Here was the first
screenshot I took.

What you're looking at here, off in the distance, is the building on the shore of the new flooded lake that has the scaffolding next to it. If you've
run the Faultline Arc a few times, you should recognize it as the area where you and Doc Delilah (if you can get her up there past her fear of elevators)
defeat Captain Castillo. Bet you didn't know the ENTIRE building is actually rendered below the surface of the lake and ground, eh?



Wondering what the HELL the follow screen is? You're looking up from underneath the ground (which is not rendered from this POV) at the tunnel system under
the west part of Faultline. Those red "pathways"? You're looking at the ceilings of the tunnels that run to the old abandoned supergroup bases
that Arachnos is plundering to find the Psychochronometron.



Again - this requires some explanation. You're looking up at the junction between the War Wall and the Dam. Off to the right side of the picture are the
fake buildings that make up the "Cityscape" that you can see dimly through the Warwall if you bother to try and look through it.



These buildings look solid like normal. But there's nothing "there". No collision detection. You fly through them (or the ground, out here!) and
it's all just a phantom.





The following is a couple of screens showing the tunnel between Faultline and Skyway.





Edge of the world... Pretty bizarre, eh? From this direction, many of the "ghost buildings" aren't fully rendered.



You want to see bizarre though? Look at this! That last screen shows one of the hottubs in the Apartment complex from beneath!



Kheldian Tentacles waiting for an unsuspecting bather?



Believe it or not, this is the Hospital! Although the layout of the floors is consistant with what you experience in-game (patient floors are above the
lobby), the placement of all of this well below the actual building leads to the odd circumstance that the lobby is actually the farthest of the floors from
the street!







Although for some reason the hospital's interior is not visible from the outside/underside except for the reclamators and doors, it was possible to push
Lora'Lai just a little bit through the wall to take this rare shot from behind the nurses station.



The Donut shop from probably the most unique angle you'll ever see.



This shot... it's just hilarious to me in a way I just can't describe. ^_^



A view of the parking garage beneath the Trainer and fountains.



Apparently some of the old weird grandeur of the old Faultline Zone still exists below the waterline.



More of the tunnel system from earlier, this time looking up at the ceilings of the "ruined bases" that actually exist at least in part outside
the warwalls of the zone.



Striking out for the edge of the unknown, I decided to see if there was any "edge" to the overall map. I set a waypoint on the map behind me and
just put flight on auto.



After about half and hour, I the waypoint showed Lora about 40 miles from Faultline with no end in sight. I decided to use my Pocket D transporter to get out
rather than fly back the whole way. But before I did, I caught another bizarre image. Looking down... at the moon.



This hole in the world no longer exists. But I was glad to catch a look "behind the curtain" as it were while I had the opportunity.

[Ebony]

Clearly this "space between worlds" is only accessible to Kheldians, due to their strange conjoined existence. That, and folks driving Ford F-250
pickups with jet engines mounted on the back and a level 50 Oscillation Overthruster slotted. That's Numero Catorce's opinion, and he's sticking to
it.
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

[Sweno]

wow, thanks for the neat pics. I had heard about this, but never got the chance to explore it.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Bob Schroeck]

I should mention that at the time I was shown a hole it was a different one than this... and none of the characters involved had flight -- so they ended up
dropping for a little bit and got teleported somewhere in the zone.

Logan, thanks for the shots, those were very very cool.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Wiregeek]

until recently, the ocean was missing from Mission One of the ITF - I had Gen hop off the edge and fly around for a bit, but we didn't take screenies 8 (

Anyone else know of a handy place to 'get outside'?
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Ankhani]

Occasionally, someone will find a hole in the dance floor level of the D and then fly down to the 'other side's' elevators. I dunno if they can
actually get into the area though.
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

[firvulag]

There's one in one of the Croatoa missions. I can't remember which one unfortunately. I was following the map edge and fell through the boundary. I
spent more time trying to find my way back in to the map proper than I did completing the mission. The hole in the wall is very tiny.

[Ebony]

Bob Schroeck wrote:

---

I should mention that at the time I was shown a hole it was a different one than this... and none of the characters involved had flight -- so they ended up
dropping for a little bit and got teleported somewhere in the zone.




Logan, thanks for the shots, those were very very cool.

I've had that happen with Superjumpers that mapserv or time out in mid-jump due to lag. When I logged back on, they were falling past the
ground, but quickly teleported to a location in the zone. Hasn't happened recently, though.
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

[Ankhani]

Twice when I DC'd in Talos with Emet, I'd logg back in and be -inside- one of the large rock-islands out in the bay holding up the Highway around the
South edge of the zone. Couldn't get out, through the rock (Ironic as it may be) and couldn't drop a Ouro, so I had to chill a few and use the D-pass.
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

[Acyl]

Atlantea: It's possible that Doc Delilah's elevator problem may be fixed. I helped an acquaintance with that mission recently, and to my surprise, he just leapt in the elevator...and Delilah followed. He thinks the devs have fixed it...but I haven't double-checked with another character to confirm if this really works.
Ankhani: While you can sneak round holes in the D to get to the other side's elevators, you can't actually use the exits to zone out. It still tags you as being from the wrong faction.
Finally, I've fallen off the edge of the Arachnos map before:-

That's actually standing on TOP of the outside of the corridor cage. I have some other images, I'll go look for them later. A lot of the mechanical detail junk you see in the Arachnos corridors, out of your reach and beneath/above you is actually rendered quite fully past the passageway.
I've also fallen off the map in a Mayhem mission, ending up inside a full copy of Kings Row - not just the small area bounded by the Mayhem map barriers. This included Blue Steel's trainer spot and the tram. The SG base portal was missing, though, the helicopter to Warburg didn't work, and the tram most certainly didn't either. The street tunnel exits out of Kings Row were also nonfunctional; they gave a 'You cannot enter' dialogue box. It should be noted that this version of Kings Row was the OLD map, predating the introduction of Ouroboros and the Cyrus memorial statue that sits near the tram station - that was missing here. I have screenshots of this, but I believe they are backed up elsewhere, not on my HD...if there's interest, I can go dig 'em up post them, though it's not really all that interesting - just a villain wandering around an empty KR.
Clearly, they simply have a map that they crop for the use of Mayhem missions. =D
-- Acyl