Zombieville (1997)

Zombieville
Developer: Psygnosis Publishers: Dice Multi Media Europe BV (EU), Diamond Star (US) Platforms: DOS, Windows Released in US: 1998 Released in EU: 1997 This game has unused animations. This game has unused areas. This game has unused playable characters. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused items. This game has unused music. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences. This game has a prerelease article This game has a bugs page

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes. Notes: Current documentation is gathered from European release as the American version contains no gameplay changes except for its missing 2nd disc. This entry is incomplete until the unused character graphics are unearthed.

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Where are the missing weapons? Also, is it possible to rip character sprites to unearth the unused character graphics? Also, is it possible to enable debugging for this game?

ZombieVille is an action adventure game filled with comedy, cultural & zombie movie references, and of course, zombies. This title was for the MS-DOS and WIN9X platforms published in 1997 by Dice Multi Media Europe BV in Europe, and later distributed in 1998 by Diamond Star in the United States.

This game was portrayed in game magazines to be ambitious for the time, since it attempted to provide players with many gaming aspects not commonly seen at the time, which included but not limited to:

• Large game environments to explore,
• Dialogue trees paired with hours of spoken dialogues,
• Large amounts of gore and explosives,
• Beautiful graphics* & animations,
• Consequences of players' 'bad' actions,
• Guaranteed game completion if any important character was killed,
• ...And the cherry on top....zombifying the player.

(*)Throughout the years of 1995 and early of 1996, some gaming magazines portrayed Zombieville to use 3d polygons to compete with Resident Evil.

However, later in the year of 1996, the development of Zombieville massively hampered not only due to internal problems at Psygnosis at the time, but Resident Evil 1 being recently released onto the PlayStation 1, to massive success. In addition, because Resident Evil used polygonal models, Zombieville was possibly considered to be an antiquated project since it used 2d sprites for characters instead, and seemed like a Resident evil knock-off, despite how ambitious and unique Zombieville intended to be.

After a handful of promises of expected releases and delays, Zombieville was then silently released into the gaming markets in 1997, possibly to recoup some losses. However, since it was released in Europe an unpolished state and then distributed in an incomplete state in United States, reception was not positive and left Zombieville to rot into obscurity. Fortunately, Zombieville was brought back to life due to unearthing plethora of unused contents and positive reception 20+ years later!

Check out that attire on Matthew Black because... can you see who wears the pants around here?

Sub-Pages

Prerelease Info

Bugs

Unused Text Why do I always get the bit with the boot in it?

Unused Audio No, I don't want to drink that glass of water!

Oddities The drunkard is dead! Rachel is after me!

Debug Text "Crow bar wrapped around the cranium"

Unused Characters

There are currently 4 unused/unseen characters in Zombieville.

These characters are: Joe Yamatsu and Keko, while two others - Mellor (Dog Handler) and James Ford (TeknoInc.).

• Joe Yamatsu is intended to show up in the Graveyard due to his line saying: "That's... we were playing five-card poker, here in the graveyard, aces high and low."
• Keko is the Asian love interest of Joe Yamatsu and is intended to show up in the town's diner.
• Mellor is a military dog handler and is believed to have originally blocked the gated entrance to Bedlam Base's stairs to the base's 2nd floor.
• James Ford is a traveling salesman and is also intended to have shown up in the town's diner.

However, they are nowhere to be found in the game as either they are unused or their conditions to appear are obscure/never met.

Out of these 4 unused characters, only Ms. Agnes' brother Clyde mentions Joe Yamatsu casually in the game's final version.

• Clyde mentions said name on this YouTube video at the 2 minute mark:

(Graphics for these characters are currently inaccessible until someone is able to rip character sprites out of the game.)

However, their voice lines are still able to be heard through these links:

• Joe Yamatsu 's conversation
• Keko's conversation
• Mellor's conversation
• James Ford's conversation

Unused Graphics

BHUMWB.SPR and BHUMEB.SPR

In Zombieville's game files, there's two .spr files, BHUMWB.SPR and BHUMEB.SPR, that are currently unused and they both contain the same doodle graphic.

It is believed that these .spr files originally contained graphics for another Humvee cutscene that was later cut , as these were found in the CUT_SCN folder.

NOTEPAD.RAW

There's an unused notepad graphic that is stored in ZOMB\DATA\NOTEPAD.RAW.

According to Mike Haigh, who did background artwork for Zombieville, he said that "it was originally intended for the player to hand write notes."

It was believed to be implemented before release but it was not. The hand writing notes functionality may possibly have been replaced by the tape recorder/dictaphone machine.

INV.LBM

Zombieville 1997 technically does have an in-game inventory menu when one presses F1 and right clicks on Matt Black.

All this in-game inventory menu shows is: Matt's face & health bar, number of antidote & medkits.

Other than that, the game doesn't tell you what items you have picked up outside of the speech system.

• The only way to know how many rounds you have for a weapon is to right click on the bottom right of the screen.

However it seems at one point, there would have been an inventory menu to interact with collected items in some way as there's unused graphics inside ZOM\DATA\INV.LBM .

Since the prototype inventory menu graphic took up only 1/4th of the screen, it is believed that texts and other graphics would appear on screen describing the selected item.

Perhaps this inventory menu may have been replaced with the speech system where you could only use certain items in conversations.

_{For example: Use Tranquillizer gun on General and Show Authorization Letter [to PFC McArthur]}

Cut/Incomplete Interactions

ZombieVille 1997 has some world interactions that are considered incomplete/cut.

Right clicking on these areas with interaction does not give any context nor make Matt turn to face them.

What their original purpose where, we'll never know...

(Select mp4 source for highest quality!)

• What more are you supposed to interact with at the roadblock?

• • Perhaps at some point, the jukebox was originally intended to play some audio tracks if you insert some change.

Unused Items

Zombieville was designed to not have a complex inventory menu of any sorts.

This means that you'll have to write down notes about which items you've taken and who needs what.

However, not only most items are NOT made clear of what are needed to progress in the game, but most items serve no purpose as their original purpose may be left incomplete and/or dummied out.

Thus some items go unused after picking them up.

• 

  Credit Card

• 

  Batteries

• 

  Porno literature, Dollar, Quarters

• 

  Sunglasses

• 

  2nd Humvee Key!!

• 

  Lighter

• 

  Dairy & Doll

• 

  Grenades

• 

  Razor

• 

  Empty Shotgun Shells

• 

  Winkey Bar

• 

  Chainsaw

Unused Item(s) Notes

• The Winkey Bar may have been intended to be given to Ruthie because she mentions that she wants some sweetmeats to eat.
  • However, there's no speech option to give said bar to her.
• When arriving at the city, Deputy Buckmaster tells you that he will "impound your Humvee", implying that the Humvee can't be used at this point.
  • However, after you receive Rusty's pass and head back to the Humvee, Deputy Buckmaster is nowhere to be seen and you can leave with the Humvee like nothing happened!

• It is believe that Zombieville was originally written with the intention of being able to drive the Humvee again only after looting a Humvee key from the zombiefied sheriff.
  • However, when you arrive to Deputy Buckmaster for the first time after the visiting farmhouse, you can leave right away, despite being told that your Humvee was impounded!
    • Thus negating all further speech speech options with Deputy Buckmaster & 2nd Humvee key's unused purpose even further!

• The only way to pick up the Razor in the Diner is to shoot down Mr. Derby, which causes zombies to spawn and Pearl to be hostile towards Matt.
  • At this point, even when using Cheat engine to have always have full health, the game will crash if you overpower the zombies here.

• Because there's multiple "Offer_Shells" options peppered in the FMH.CNV, the empty shotgun shells are believed to be originally intended to not give any actual ammo to Ms. Agnes over the farm.
  • If you pick up these empty shells, not pick up any usable shotgun shells, and reach to Ms. Agnes with the antidote, no speech options are given to give said empty shells.
  • The game merely checks if you have at least 6 shotgun shells when talking to Ms. Agnes.
    • It is believe that these empty shells' original purpose was to:
      • Trick Ms. Agnes in not giving up any shotgun ammo, despite the game not actually taking any shotgun ammunitions from Matt when offering Ms. Agnes the shells.
      • Create conventional shotgun ammunition on the go, which is not possible in the final release of the game.
      • Create special shotgun rounds, where they contain the silver bullets that is needed to wound the Walker of Winds. This was possibly considered as an alternative to not getting the musket from Gluck at the General Store
    • The first two ideas were possibly made redundant as zombies drop shotgun rounds frequently.
    • The 3rd idea was possibly not considered as if you don't get the farmhouse key from Ms. Agnes and meet the Walker of Winds somehow, the game cannot be completed as you cannot shoot him.
• The unused Mug & Glass are believed to play a part in a 2nd encounter with Deputy BuckMaster, but said encounter is either impossible to achieve or dummied out before release!
  • Unused voice lines between Matt & BuckMaster can be read & heard via the link here: https://tcrf.net/Zombieville_(1997)/Unused_Audio#Unused_Roadblock_Dialogue
• It is believed that the diary item originally had a 'conversation' attached to it.
  • The text can be seen via the link here: https://tcrf.net/Zombieville_(1997)/Unused_Text#DIARY_S.CNV
• It is also believed that at some point in development, perhaps the player would be able to use the Quarters on the jukebox to play some tunes, as there's plenty of unused music tracks!

Missing Weapons

The game manual shows that there's many weapons to be encountered in Zombieville, which in total of 12 weapons.

However, after exploring every nook and cranny possible, 3 weapons are nowhere to be found. These are:

* Colt [Pistol]
* Double-Barreled Shotgun
* M16 With Grenade Launcher.

These weapons are nowhere to be found throughout the game, whether by killing NPCS or looting from the game world.

Missing Weapon Notes

• The Colt is believed to be the M1911 Colt pistol and not a Colt Revolver.
• Deputy BuckMaster does NOT carry the Colt but the game crashes when you try to kill him at the roadblock.
  • This is because the game expects him to be alive for his 2nd yet unused encounter inside the sheriff's office.
    • His 2nd yet unused encounter dialogue can be heard here.
• Ruby at the Ruby Bar carries the conventional shotgun, and not the double barreled shotgun. She only pulls out her shotgun when zombified.
  • Ms. Agnes also carries the conventional shotgun.
    • It is believed that perhaps she was intended to carry the double-barreled shotgun at some point, given how much emphasis was put in getting her shotgun.
• It is currently unknown if Stg. Joe carries the M16 w/ Grenade Launcher as he was another cut character in Zombieville.
  • His unused dialogue with Matt Black can be heard here.

Other Unused Weapons

If you inspect ZOMB.EXE inside a hex editor, you'll find some weapons that did not make the cut. No Pun intended this time...

• 0x00097E54 Revolver
• 0x00097EB8 Cleaver
• 0x00098064 Phosphorous Grenades
• 0x000980EC Smoke Grenades
• 0x000980FC Shovel

Other Unused Weapons Notes

• According to gaming magazine showcasing a pre-release version, Zombieville was originally intended to include gore.
  • The chainsaw may have originally used to gib zombies and/or the town square's priest.
• Perhaps at one point, there would have been melee weapons in Zombieville, due to cleaver & chainsaw making an appearance inside the game's executable.
  • The reasons for their exclusion is possibly that:
    • It would had been difficult to make Matt face zombies UNARMED and switch to a melee weapon in a very short timeframe.
    • There are plenty of ammunitions to pickup and most firearms kill zombies in 1 round at a range, making melee weapons redundant.
• The Phosphorous & Smoke Grenades where meant as either standalone grenades Matt would be able to throw by hand or launched with the unused M16 grenade-launcher.
• The shovel would possibly have served a dual purpose, such as a melee weapon and a key item.
  • That item's purpose being to dig up a grave for Stg. Joe to...rest in pieces.
  • You can listen to Stg. Joe's unused conversation here.
• There is a string that would indicate ammunition pickups for the unused Colt Pistol.
  • This can be seen at 0x0009A894 address where it says: "Colt Pistol Ammo".

Missing Ammo

According to the ZOMB.PRF file, several weapons are given to the player but their ammunitions are never spawned by killing zombies.

This means that the ammunition given alongside with weapon the is the only ammo the player has for those weapons.

Usable weapons affected by this are:

• M60
• Heckler & Koch Mp5
• Desert Eagle Pistol
• Military Shotgun

Missing Ammo Notes

• Despite being an LMG, the m60 only gives the player 5 rounds. The M16, Mp5, & M60 function nearly identical to each other with the exception being round capacity.
• The military shotgun does refill its ammo with shell case pickups, but it causes a conflict with the other shotgun's ammo pool.
• The only extra ammunition you'll get for the Mp5 is from the two Mp5 clips that Margie drops upon her death.
  • Despite Margie telling you that the Mp5 does use Pistol ammunition, the Pistol clips do NOT replenish the Mp5 ammo pool .
• At some point, there was going to be ammo pickups for the Desert Eagle pistol, but it went unused.
  • Inside in the ZOMB.EXE at address 0x00097EE0 , the following string says "Ammo for Desert Eagle" .

Regional Differences

Zombieville was released in many parts of Europe at different times within the year of 1997.

When Zombieville was introduced to the USA markets in 1998, there was minute changes made to the game's content, such as the ZV's intro video has the Psygnosis logo replaced with the Diamond Star logo.

However, the worrisome change was that the game was released in 1 red disc unlike the European version that was released in 2 green discs, as shown here in this YouTube Video.

European	USA

Despite that, even though the DiamondStar logo was slapped onto the USA game box in attempt to 'hide' the fact that Pysgnosis made Zombieville, the Pysgnosis name is still printed onto the US box & CD.

US Version is Wrong Version

When Zombieville was released in USA markets in 1998, it was switched to 1 disk instead of 2 discs.

• The problem with the US version is that the files from the 2nd disc were [accidentally] left out, thus rendering the US Version incomplete. When you reach the town after speaking with Buckmaster, Zombieville will prompt you for a 2nd disc, but the US version doesn't have a 2nd disc.
  • There's two ways to fix this:
    • 1.) Insert the European version's 2nd disc when prompted.
    • 2.) Combine the European version 2nd disc's files into the USV 1-disk folders where appropriate and combine them into an .iso and relaunch the game.