TRII/TRIII Source Code: Our In-Depth Analysis

TOMB RAIDER II INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT VERSION

This is a PC version and contains the entire game. This build confirms that Floating Islands and The Dragon's Lair were to be all one level, as previously suggested by the presence of Marco Bartoli's body in the file for the final version of Floating Islands.

Level list:
Lara's Home
Test Level
The Wall
The Boat
Venice
Opera
Rig
Underwater
Keel
Living Area
Deck
Skidoo
Monastery
Catacomb
Ice Cave
Emporer's Tomb
Floating Islands
House

FMV list:
corelogo.rpl (logo FMV)
escape.rpl (logo FMV)
home.rpl (unused FMV)
wallold.rpl (intro FMV, ancient China)
wallpres.rpl (intro FMV, modern China)
rig.rpl (seaplane landing)
minisub.rpl (40 fathoms below)
seaplane.rpl (Tibet arrival)
jeep.rpl (Tibet escape)
fendseq.rpl (end FMV)

UNWATER is the file extension name of 40 Fathoms in the retail version but the GF_DATA file below confirms that UNWATER in this build is actually for Diving Area. So, it would seem that the Maria Doria section was only going to have three levels at one point, perhaps with the intention to have 40 Fathoms and Wreck of the Maria Doria combined together.

The name of the file for Deck is also different from the final. It is titled "dock.tr2".

As with the original Tomb Raider, this build suggests that Tomb Raider II was to have an FMV before Lara's Home begins.

There is only one rolling demo and that is for Bartoli's Hideout.

The text document which contains this information also suggests that a Rocket Launcher may have been intended for the game, but not necessarily in place of the Grenade Launcher. An SBR script file suggests that they are in the game at the same time as in Tomb Raider III.
Harpoons were originally titled Harpoon Bolts as well.

Some of the puzzle item strings are from the original game, such as "Lead Bar" and "Scion".

A test level can be glimpsed in one or two videos from the game's marketing. It uses textures from The Cistern/Tomb of Tihocan. This may be the test level found on this build of the game.


GF_DATA

Similar to the above, this also contains information about the game's strings. The strings are listed as the following:

EidosPIC
CoreLogoFMV
EscapeFMV
FMV - Intro - Great Wall Ancient Time
FMV-1 - Great Wall Present Time
LEVEL 1 - WALL 'The Great Wall'
CUT-1 - Cult Camp / Great Wall
LEVEL 2 - BOAT 'Venice Canals'
LEVEL 3 - VENICE 'Bartoli's House'
LEVEL 4 - OPERA House, Venice
CUT-2 - CargoHold Seaplane - Venice
FMV-2 - Rig/Ocean
LEVEL 5 - RIG /Ship
CUT-3 - Rig/Changing Area
LEVEL 6 - UNWATER 'Underwater' (Diving Pool/Rig)
FMV-3 - Mini Sub - grabs onto sub until crash
LEVEL 7 - KEEL 'Sunken Ship'
LEVEL 8 - LIVING 'Sunken Ship'
LEVEL 9 - DOCK 'Sunken Ship'
FMV-4 - SeaPlane Taking off & crash onto tibet mountain
LEVEL 10 - SKIDOO '???'
LEVEL 11 - MONASTRY '???'
LEVEL 12 - CATACOMB '???'
LEVEL 13 - ICECAVE '???'
FMV-5 - Mountain Side Tibet, Jeep ride to Great Wall
LEVEL 14 - EMPRTOMB 'Emporer's Tomb'
CUT-4 - Cult ritual
LEVEL 15 - FLOATING '???'
FMV-6 - End sequence?
LEVEL 16 - HOUSE '???'

This is a PlayStation version and again, a rocket launcher and its ammo is referenced in addition to the grenade launcher. Lara's Home is absent from here and savegame crystals are mentioned as well.


MAGAZINE PREVIEW

This PC demo was to be sent out for magazine previews. It contains the levels Lara's Home, The Great Wall, Opera House and 40 Fathoms. It also contains the intro FMVs, the cutscene after The Great Wall, the FMV prior to 40 Fathoms and also the ultimately unused Lara's Home FMV mentioned above.


TOMB RAIDER II TOMBPC.DAT FILE

A TOMBPC.DAT file for Tomb Raider II reveals the following placeholder names for all of the levels:

Lara's Home
The Great Wall W
Venice B
Bartoli's Hideout V
Opera House O
Diving Rig R
Platform P
40 Fathoms U
Wreck of the Maria Doria K
The Living Quarters L
On the Deck D
Tibetan Foothills S
Barkhang Monastery M
Catacombs of the Talion C
Ice Palace I
Temple of Xian E
Floating Islands F
Xian X
Home Sweet Home

These are similar to the level strings seen in the full game September 30th 1997 beta of Tomb Raider II. As some strings are significantly different, it can be assumed that this TOMBPC.DAT originates from a build earlier than the 30th September beta.

Only the LOGO, ANCIENT and MODERN FMVs are found in the strings here.


TOMB RAIDER II ECTS DEMO (4th September 1997)

At ECTS 1997, Tomb Raider II was showcased on PC, apparently with the following levels: Lara's Home, The Great Wall, Venice, Wreck of the Maria Doria and Tibetan Foothills. There are five rolling demos. Of them, The Great Wall was playable and the rest were rolling demos. There are five rolling demos in total.

Three FMV sequences are also specified but there are none listed elsewhere in the document.

A PlayStation version of the demo is referenced too, here with no mention of Lara's Home.


TOMB RAIDER II 3 LEVEL DEMO (14th October 1997)

The PlayStation demo referenced here was released in France with Issue 20 of Playmag. It contains the levels Lara's Home, Venice, Wreck of the Maria Doria and Tibetan Foothills. Despite the text document's claim of Lara's Home being among the levels, it was not included when the demo was compiled for Playmag. Of the levels which were included, only Venice is playable. The file for the playable demo is simply titled "playable.PSX".

There is also reference to a PC version of the demo, without any mention of Lara's Home.


TOMB RAIDER II 2 LEVEL TEST (30th October 1997)

There is reference to a 2 level test for the game on PC which contained the levels Lara's Home, The Great Wall and Temple of Xian. There are also three rolling demos. Presumably, Lara's Home and The Great Wall would have been playable whilst Temple of Xian was relegated to a rolling demo.

There would also have appeared to be a PlayStation version of this test, this one without Lara's Home. The ambience track specified for The Great Wall is "Wind". Temple of Xian has no ambient track specified.


TOMB RAIDER II 1 LEVEL DEMO (30th October 1997)

On 15th April 1998, a condensed Venice demo level was released on the Internet for download, originating from the 30th October 1997 build of the game. The full level is in the file but the end trigger is instead placed before Lara can access the sewers.
As soon as the game application is initiated, the level begins. The title screen is disabled.

There are two rolling demos of the Venice level that play if the playable demo is left unattended for too long.


TOMB RAIDER II 3 LEVEL DEMO (30th October 1997)

Intended for a release in 1998, the levels contained herein are lifted from the build dated 30th October 1997. It is said to contain the levels Lara's Home, Venice and Bartoli's Hideout as well as the FMVs LOGO, ANCIENT and MODERN.

This PC demo contains five rolling demos.

As before, there is also mention of a PlayStation version of this demo, this time including the level The Great Wall.


TOMB RAIDER III E3 DEMO (7th June 1998)

A tombPC.DAT file reveals that Tomb Raider III's famous E3 demo for PC and PlayStation was titled "Run The Gauntlet" and contained five rolling demos of the same level. Lara's Home is also referenced in the level's strings, titled "Not Set".
The name of the playable demo's file is "e3demo.PSX" on PlayStation and "e3demo.TR2" on PC.
Before entering the level, an ultimately unused loading screen is glimpsed. The title of its file is "e3load.RAW".

TOMB3PSX.DAT

This is quite a strange DAT file for a PlayStation version of Tomb Raider III. There is only a selection of levels and all but one use the above E3 loading screen:

Not Set (Lara's Home)
Test (Jungle)
Area 51
Wanky (Madubu Gorge)
Roofy (Thames Wharf)
City
God (All Hallows)
Ant (Antarctica)
Smells (Aldwych)
Tower (Lud's Gate, does not have a loading screen)

Turbo Pascal's Tomb Raider Data Scripter shows that this is a demo build. Only Test and Area 51 were playable. Peru is also still a part of the strings in this build. Oddly, the strings for all puzzle items in this data file are all taken from Tomb Raider II.

In this build, Lara's set of weapons included the following: Pistols, Shotgun, Desert Eagle, Uzis, Harpoon Gun, M-16, Rocket Launcher and Grenade Launcher.

CUT1

A document referencing a demo build on PC containing the levels Coastal Village, vict.tr2, vict1.tr2, vict2.tr2, Madubu Gorge, Antarctica, Temple Ruins, Jungle and RX-Tech Mines. All levels use the E3 loading screen.

Interestingly, the name of the E3 level, "Run The Gauntlet", is found here. e3demo.tr2 is nowhere to be found however. As Coastal Village is found here and bears similarities with the E3 level, perhaps Coastal Village was at this point known as "Run The Gauntlet".

Weapons in this build all come from Tomb Raider II with the exception of the Rocket Launcher. The Harpoon Gun is not listed.

As we know, vict.tr2 is found on the disc of the retail release of Tomb Raider III and has identical textures to All Hallows. This document confirms that there was at one point vict1.tr2 and vict2.tr2 levels as well. What these were intended for is unknown. They could be earlier versions of the London levels. Vict may be short for Victorian.

LANGUAGE STRINGS

Peru is referenced in text documents containing the strings for the title screen/globe in English, French, German and Italian.