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BOBs / Tip of the Spear BOB Hunt (MAJOR UPDATE)(Solved)
« on: November 02, 2011, 16:45:46 »
The following is from Niles Sankey, lead mission designer for Reach, via Urk:
This means that there is one undiscovered BOB on this level!!
I've made two videos to aid in the search. Both are on Legendary:
Tip of the Spear: Where's BOB? (Short)
In this game, no known BOB spawns, suggesting our missing BOB is somewhere to be found. I skip most of the enemies to advance through the level in about 12 minutes on Legendary with no deaths. A good video if you want to peruse a certain area quickly.
Tip of the Spear: Where's BOB? (Long)
Once again, here no known BOB spawns, suggesting our missing BOB is somewhere to be found. However, this video clocks in at around 50 minutes, and I methodically take down each and every enemy, including one flighty Phantom. Legendary again, with 5 deaths, all equally embarrassing. If I get the time, I'll make another one with no deaths.
If you get time, please watch one of these videos, post your thoughts, etc. in the search. Also feel free to let me know any random theories you might have, and I'll try out whichever ones I can. Thanks!
Also, whoever finds the mystery BOB will get credit in the video guide; it's not much, but at least you'll get a little recognition!
Just to clarify, here are the known BOB spawn points (images from Halo Creation):
One spawn point overlooking the first Tyrant Anti-Air gun:
Click for video
Click for image
Three spawn points near the Spire:
Click here for Spawn Point 1 Video
Click here for Spawn Point 2 Video
Click here for Spawn Point 3 Video
Click for picture of all three spawn points
Here is a list of some of my theories to get the ball rolling. If you have an idea, feel free to post it! I'll add to the list as people post theories, and mark them as confirmed, false, etc.
Theory 1
Using level skips somehow prevents the BOB from spawning.
Status: Busted
In the above video, the level is played normally, and all enemies that can spawn into the game do so. Yet, no BOB spawns.
Theory 2
The leftmost Banshee that flies overhead at the beginning of the level will, occasionally, not fire. This could possibly indicate a Banshee BOB.
Status: Busted
Using the grenade launcher, it's possible to EMP this Banshee, dropping him off the level. You get credit for a kill this way; if this was a Banshee BOB, this should by all accounts grant the Golden Opportunity challenge. However, on 11/2 I EMP'd this Banshee in a game where it did not fire; no challenge was awarded. Note that the left-most Banshee is not firing.
Theory 3
It is possible to enter the Garage in the bottom of the BXR Mining Facility if the Rocket Warthog is brought in.
Status: Busted
Bringing the Warthog here does nothing. Same for the Spade.
Theory 4
There is a random chance that no BOB will spawn on this level.
Status: Non-Falsifiable!
Theory 5
One of the Banshees that sometimes approach the BXR Facility is a BOB.
Status: Busted
Using the Rocket Warthog, it's quite easy to blow up these three Banshees. None awarded the "Golden Opportunity" challenge. All three Banshees will fire on the player, usually with Banshee Bombs. This was done in a game where no BOB spawned, specifically the second game above, which can be viewed as a Saved Film.
Theory 6
One of the marines on this level is a BOB.
Status: Plausible
It's possible, but would be unique to this level. Be careful if you do this; killing too many Marines will turn Jorge on you, even if he doesn't get a chance at revenge until after he gets out of the Falcon. In the first of the two Saved Films above, I killed the "OTA" Marine, but did not get the Golden Opportunity challenge.
Theory 7
The Falcon that flies overhead at the beginning of the level is a BOB.
Status:
You can't EMP the lowest-flying falcon, which is driverless but not jackable. There are actually three Falcons here, but the other two fly very high. The pictures below were all taken on Easy.
If you can keep the Fuel Rod Shades from taking out the Falcon, you can melee the gunners yourself:
No driver! I didn't try to headshot the driver, who may be invisible.
Plasma Pistol has no EMP effect, so you can't flip it to eject the driver like the WC Falcon:
The Falcon is very weak; a melee or two will destroy it.
You can get on it if it gets stuck, but once it's stuck it doesn't seem to ever get un-stuck.
Theory 8
Serious backtracking is required. For example, the BOB spawns on the bridge to the BXR Facility as you leave the facility from the other side.
Status: Plausible
This will take some time to check; basically people will need to watch the videos very closely, and focus on where the player has been rather on where they will go. It's possible to backtrack from the BXR exit all the way back to the broken road section. Climb objects and/or grenade jump up out of the hole, then jump across the gap to the BXR entrance. From there, you can just run or drive back. An invisible wall prevents further backtracking.
Theory 9
The Zealot is a BOB.
Status: Busted
In both of the videos above, I killed the Zealot. This did not register as a BOB kill or award the challenge.
Theory 10
A BOB spawns during the Falcon ride.
Theory 11
Some sort of button or trigger must be used to spawn in the missing BOB, if it is chosen.
Theory 12
The missing BOB only spawns on Legendary.
Theory 13
Getting the missing BOB to spawn requires saving the "doomed" Falcons at the first encounter, and each of the Tyrant guns.
Happy hunting!
Quote
Dear Lord Friendship,
I took a little time to look into the case of the missing Gold Ranger Elite. It�s been a while since I�ve looked at these scripts. At first I thought there was (as you suggest in your post) a bug that prevented Bob from spawning 25% of the time. At the top of the script I noticed the random value assigned to the spawn variable was set to a value ranging between 1-4. The script was then evaluating this variable but there was were only three values it was checking for: 1-3. This confused me at first but then someone (thanks Dom!) pointed out that the last function checks for a value greater than or equal to 3. So basically the likelihood that Bob will spawn in the final area is 50% and the other two are 25% each. Also, it should be noted that the three Bobs that spawn in your lower screenshot are all controlled by the same spawning function but this particular Bob squad (even a single AI is referred to as a squad) has three starting locations that the engine randomly chooses from.
In any case, it appears that the script is working as designed and I don�t see any reason why Bob wouldn�t be spawning in.
All of that being said, it would appear that you have not identified one of the locations of Bob in this mission. According to the scripts and the object placements in the level editor, there is one more place that he should be spawning. On the other hand, with the amount of time you�ve put into the game, I can�t believe you wouldn�t have seen him unless there is a bug preventing it. Ahhh, the mysteries of life.
Thanks for posting your question. I hope this reply was at least somewhat interesting.
Niles
This means that there is one undiscovered BOB on this level!!
I've made two videos to aid in the search. Both are on Legendary:
Tip of the Spear: Where's BOB? (Short)
In this game, no known BOB spawns, suggesting our missing BOB is somewhere to be found. I skip most of the enemies to advance through the level in about 12 minutes on Legendary with no deaths. A good video if you want to peruse a certain area quickly.
Tip of the Spear: Where's BOB? (Long)
Once again, here no known BOB spawns, suggesting our missing BOB is somewhere to be found. However, this video clocks in at around 50 minutes, and I methodically take down each and every enemy, including one flighty Phantom. Legendary again, with 5 deaths, all equally embarrassing. If I get the time, I'll make another one with no deaths.
If you get time, please watch one of these videos, post your thoughts, etc. in the search. Also feel free to let me know any random theories you might have, and I'll try out whichever ones I can. Thanks!
Also, whoever finds the mystery BOB will get credit in the video guide; it's not much, but at least you'll get a little recognition!
Just to clarify, here are the known BOB spawn points (images from Halo Creation):
One spawn point overlooking the first Tyrant Anti-Air gun:
Click for video
Click for image
Three spawn points near the Spire:
Click here for Spawn Point 1 Video
Click here for Spawn Point 2 Video
Click here for Spawn Point 3 Video
Click for picture of all three spawn points
Here is a list of some of my theories to get the ball rolling. If you have an idea, feel free to post it! I'll add to the list as people post theories, and mark them as confirmed, false, etc.
Theory 1
Using level skips somehow prevents the BOB from spawning.
Status: Busted
In the above video, the level is played normally, and all enemies that can spawn into the game do so. Yet, no BOB spawns.
Theory 2
The leftmost Banshee that flies overhead at the beginning of the level will, occasionally, not fire. This could possibly indicate a Banshee BOB.
Status: Busted
Using the grenade launcher, it's possible to EMP this Banshee, dropping him off the level. You get credit for a kill this way; if this was a Banshee BOB, this should by all accounts grant the Golden Opportunity challenge. However, on 11/2 I EMP'd this Banshee in a game where it did not fire; no challenge was awarded. Note that the left-most Banshee is not firing.
Theory 3
It is possible to enter the Garage in the bottom of the BXR Mining Facility if the Rocket Warthog is brought in.
Status: Busted
Bringing the Warthog here does nothing. Same for the Spade.
Theory 4
There is a random chance that no BOB will spawn on this level.
Status: Non-Falsifiable!
Theory 5
One of the Banshees that sometimes approach the BXR Facility is a BOB.
Status: Busted
Using the Rocket Warthog, it's quite easy to blow up these three Banshees. None awarded the "Golden Opportunity" challenge. All three Banshees will fire on the player, usually with Banshee Bombs. This was done in a game where no BOB spawned, specifically the second game above, which can be viewed as a Saved Film.
Theory 6
One of the marines on this level is a BOB.
Status: Plausible
It's possible, but would be unique to this level. Be careful if you do this; killing too many Marines will turn Jorge on you, even if he doesn't get a chance at revenge until after he gets out of the Falcon. In the first of the two Saved Films above, I killed the "OTA" Marine, but did not get the Golden Opportunity challenge.
Theory 7
The Falcon that flies overhead at the beginning of the level is a BOB.
Status:
You can't EMP the lowest-flying falcon, which is driverless but not jackable. There are actually three Falcons here, but the other two fly very high. The pictures below were all taken on Easy.
If you can keep the Fuel Rod Shades from taking out the Falcon, you can melee the gunners yourself:
No driver! I didn't try to headshot the driver, who may be invisible.
Plasma Pistol has no EMP effect, so you can't flip it to eject the driver like the WC Falcon:
The Falcon is very weak; a melee or two will destroy it.
You can get on it if it gets stuck, but once it's stuck it doesn't seem to ever get un-stuck.
Theory 8
Serious backtracking is required. For example, the BOB spawns on the bridge to the BXR Facility as you leave the facility from the other side.
Status: Plausible
This will take some time to check; basically people will need to watch the videos very closely, and focus on where the player has been rather on where they will go. It's possible to backtrack from the BXR exit all the way back to the broken road section. Climb objects and/or grenade jump up out of the hole, then jump across the gap to the BXR entrance. From there, you can just run or drive back. An invisible wall prevents further backtracking.
Theory 9
The Zealot is a BOB.
Status: Busted
In both of the videos above, I killed the Zealot. This did not register as a BOB kill or award the challenge.
Theory 10
A BOB spawns during the Falcon ride.
Theory 11
Some sort of button or trigger must be used to spawn in the missing BOB, if it is chosen.
Theory 12
The missing BOB only spawns on Legendary.
Theory 13
Getting the missing BOB to spawn requires saving the "doomed" Falcons at the first encounter, and each of the Tyrant guns.
Happy hunting!