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[LakeEarth]

Is anyone else playing this? I just got this yesterday and I'm finding it quite addictive. Gives me a Rollercoaster Tycoon feel to it which I like a lot, though I wish I could automate some of the micromanaging (having to go to the writers every 3 minutes to get them to write another script gets on my nerves).

I was wondering if anyone had any tips to help me with these problems:

Gameplaywise, I don't seem to be attracting new actors even though my studio is ranked third. I currently only have 1 male actor which is turning out to be a major problem, and I just keep waiting for someone new to appear but all I get is an occasional actress here or there.

Technically - I can't watch the movie after its done. I hit the play button, it loads up, and then I see nothing. In the beginning of the 1920's there is a "old time TV" filter going on, I could see that, but I couldn't see the 3d behind it. Anyone else have this problem?

All and all this is a fun little addictive game. I haven't even touched scriptmaking yet, I'm sure that'll make it even more fun.

 

[3phemeral]

With the rendering issue, there might be some compatability thing going on. What video card do you have? You should be able to see the movie with a grain filter applied. If not, watch the movie in post-production and turn the "movie tech" button off. You should be able to see it normally rendered then. All the characters are rendered with the filter, but the BG is washed out, right? You should be able to at least see something, even if highly contrasted and super bright.

As for the actor problem -- how many people have you hired? And how many actor wannabes did you hire as a janitor/crew/researcher/builder? That'll effect how many actors you have. Plus, it's great if you have a lot of cash stocked up. Of course, you'll have a better chance of having more actors come to your studio if you have a high-ranking lot, but having a lot of money counts for the long run. The more money you have, the more attractive your studio is to new talent.

 

[Goreomedy]

Use the starmaker tool which should have been downloaded to your desktop along with The Movies icon. You can custom create your actor, from looks, to personality, and then save them. Once you enter the game, you can drag any person to the "Import Star" section, and your actor will be in the game.

As for the speed of you script writing, hire a staff of screenwriters. After you assign one writer to a genre, drag your other writers to the Writing Pool, and they will assist with the same project.

I'm having the most fun right now with the Sandbox mode, and custom filmmaking. I edited the unlocking file so I have access to everything. The movie maker is DEEP.

 

[3phemeral]

Use the starmaker tool which should have been downloaded to your desktop along with The Movies icon. You can custom create your actor, from looks, to personality, and then save them. Once you enter the game, you can drag any person to the "Import Star" section, and your actor will be in the game.

As for the speed of you script writing, hire a staff of screenwriters. After you assign one writer to a genre, drag your other writers to the Writing Pool, and they will assist with the same project.

I'm having the most fun right now with the Sandbox mode, and custom filmmaking. I edited the unlocking file so I have access to everything. The movie maker is DEEP.

Not everything I imagine, only the time sensitive materials, right? RIGHT? lol Where did you get that info from?

 

[=W=]

can you make porn?

 

[3phemeral]

can you make porn?

Not quite. They have a few scenes that have some questionable material, but no sex by any means. It's a teen rated game.

 

[=W=]

oh

not that i would have made porn anyway

i'm just saying i'd like to see some polygons going at it

maybe in the butt

 

[Goreomedy]

Not everything I imagine, only the time sensitive materials, right? RIGHT? lol Where did you get that info from?

Time sensitive, and prize awarded. This is what I did.

I found the Lionhead Application files.

You should be able to find yours at:

C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Application Data\Lionhead Studios\The Movies\

And make sure folder properties allow hidden files.

Locate the Unlocking.ini

Alter it so that it appears like this:

highest_decade = 2000
[prizes]
RANKPRIZE_1
RANKPRIZE_2
RANKPRIZE_3
RANKPRIZE_4
RANKPRIZE_5
RANKPRIZE_6
RANKPRIZE_7
RANKPRIZE_8
RANKPRIZE_9
RANKPRIZE_10
RANKPRIZE_11
RANKPRIZE_12
RANKPRIZE_13
RANKPRIZE_14
RANKPRIZE_15
RANKPRIZE_16
RANKPRIZE_17
RANKPRIZE_18
RANKPRIZE_19
RANKPRIZE_20
RANKPRIZE_21
RANKPRIZE_22
RANKPRIZE_23
RANKPRIZE_24
RANKPRIZE_25

Now start a Sandbox game at the year 2000, with 100,000,000 cash, and you can buy any set. You have all costumes. You have palatial trailers, post production, and custom scriptwriting. Everything you need to use all the power of the movie maker.

 

[3phemeral]

Time sensitive, and prize awarded. This is what I did.

I found the Lionhead Application files.

You should be able to find yours at:

C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Application Data\Lionhead Studios\The Movies\

And make sure folder properties allow hidden files.

Locate the Unlocking.ini

Alter it so that it appears like this:

highest_decade = 2000
[prizes]
RANKPRIZE_1
RANKPRIZE_2
RANKPRIZE_3
RANKPRIZE_4
RANKPRIZE_5
RANKPRIZE_6
RANKPRIZE_7
RANKPRIZE_8
RANKPRIZE_9
RANKPRIZE_10
RANKPRIZE_11
RANKPRIZE_12
RANKPRIZE_13
RANKPRIZE_14
RANKPRIZE_15
RANKPRIZE_16
RANKPRIZE_17
RANKPRIZE_18
RANKPRIZE_19
RANKPRIZE_20
RANKPRIZE_21
RANKPRIZE_22
RANKPRIZE_23
RANKPRIZE_24
RANKPRIZE_25

Now start a Sandbox game at the year 2000, with 100,000,000 cash, and you can buy any set. You have all costumes. You have palatial trailers, post production, and custom scriptwriting. Everything you need to use all the power of the movie maker.

Oooo... someone's not going to be very happy...

=) Awesome. Thanks! I already have them unlocked through the traditional way, though ^_^

 

[LakeEarth]

Use the starmaker tool which should have been downloaded to your desktop along with The Movies icon. You can custom create your actor, from looks, to personality, and then save them. Once you enter the game, you can drag any person to the "Import Star" section, and your actor will be in the game.

As for the speed of you script writing, hire a staff of screenwriters. After you assign one writer to a genre, drag your other writers to the Writing Pool, and they will assist with the same project.

I'm having the most fun right now with the Sandbox mode, and custom filmmaking. I edited the unlocking file so I have access to everything. The movie maker is DEEP.

That's awesome, I'm so going to do that.

And I have more money than I know what to do with. I have over 2 million in the bank with the "money" meter completely filled up. Still no one in line. For ANY job at times, even during the depression no one wanted a job :lol

 

[Blackace]

Been up until 6 in the morning two nights in a row.. and am forcing myself to be at three now! This game is really good in almost everything it is suppose to do.. Oddly PM didn't hype this game.. could be a trend buy the games he doesn't hype!!!

 

[SickBoy]

Technically - I can't watch the movie after its done. I hit the play button, it loads up, and then I see nothing. In the beginning of the 1920's there is a "old time TV" filter going on, I could see that, but I couldn't see the 3d behind it. Anyone else have this problem?

I think you might have an issue with Windows Media Player. That's my best guess...

Anyhow, I like the "Tycoon" aspect of the game actually, it's pretty well done, although it does seem a touch glitchy. No matter what I tried, one of my directors left a set, wasn't doing anything in particular, wasn't unhappy, but set the movie production back several months, and I had no way to put him back on-set. I was sure there was a little icon you could drop players on to get them back to work on a movie. I swear I'd done it before.

I don't know about the movie maker. I had heard so much about it being "deep," but I was pretty disappointed, especially because it was the reason I bought the game. In a lot of ways, it's outclassed by the 10-year-old Microsoft 3D Movie Maker. Unless I'm missing something, you have limited or no control over actor placement, or the length of individual "scenes." I want to tinker with it more, but my early impression isn't all that positive. Don't get me wrong, there's a ton of stuff you can get characters to do, and I'm sure you can make a pretty entertaining movie, but I would have liked more creative control -- I'd rather have just had animations and the ability to place my actors and cameras myself rather than a bunch of canned scenes to tweak.

 

[Unison]

I like it way more than I expected to, though the limitations on the quality of movies you can make early on (e.g. you can't really make ***** movies in the 1920s) is frustrating.

Also, it's repetitive trying to drive up relationships or to master genres to improve your star / director's performance. Still cool overall...

 

[bishoptl]

I've been playing this on and off at lunch for the past few days, I haven't had the opportunity to really get into the meat of it. Lots of fun, however.

 

[Unison]

It's kind of weird how just about any movie turns a massive profit on your investment. That makes it feel more like an assembly line churning out widgets than a movie studio at times.

 

[EekTheKat]

Try shooting the same scene several times in a row, and then put it together in post production.

In fact that's probably the best way to get what you want out of a scene really.

Also from what I can tell there really isn't much of an option to choose where you want to place your actors specifically on the set, but you can choose to place them in several pre defined "roles" per scene.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

What are the system requirements for this game?

 

[EekTheKat]

It's kind of weird how just about any movie turns a massive profit on your investment. That makes it feel more like an assembly line churning out widgets than a movie studio at times.

It's getting pretty hard at around 1980's or so though...the audience seems super picky about what films are released and when.

My films were doing about 1.1 million per release in the 70's, that dropped to about 700k in the 80's due to my director + actors being mostly in the wrong genre.

Their salary goes up exponentially too, especially if you want to keep their star ratings high.

 

[LakeEarth]

It's kind of weird how just about any movie turns a massive profit on your investment. That makes it feel more like an assembly line churning out widgets than a movie studio at times.

Does this change after the 40's? I can't believe that a 1 1/2 star movie would keep making $200000-300000 every damn time.

EDIT - ahh there's my answer

 

[Unison]

It's getting pretty hard at around 1980's or so though...the audience seems super picky about what films are released and when.

My films were doing about 1.1 million per release in the 70's, that dropped to about 700k in the 80's due to my director + actors being mostly in the wrong genre.

Their salary goes up exponentially too, especially if you want to keep their star ratings high.

Ahhh, I haven't gotten that far yet. I'm still in the 30s!

I guess the pickiness of the people is influenced by a lot of factors, such as set novelty / genre / star & director appropriateness, etc... but I wish the design was less rigid in this way, but I guess it would be less of a game.

 

[EekTheKat]

When the training wheels really fall off on this game it *really* comes off....

My top actress who starred in mainly action movies

Spoiler

retired finally, leaving my studio now without a top draw

- now I'm seriously scrambling to produce another actor/director team that can take my studio back to the top again.

I still can't write anything better than a 3 star movie too - which ticks me off to no end especially since it's tied into what happened to my actress.

 

[LakeEarth]

Does having more good writers on a script increase the quality of it, or does it just increase the speed its written?

 

[Unison]

Does having more good writers on a script increase the quality of it, or does it just increase the speed its written?

I dunno... scriptwriting is a total mystery to me. Even if you put people w/ a genre affinity on a script, they tend to churn out crap.

The PC Shareware game Hollywood Mogul allowed you to assign script doctors to an existing script to attempt to polish it. You could have movies in development for ages.

In a lot of ways, that's a much better game than The Movies. It certainly was more addictive and more comprehensible from a business perspective, even if it was entirely text-based.

 

[EekTheKat]

Does having more good writers on a script increase the quality of it, or does it just increase the speed its written?

Script quality has to do with the scriptwriting building and the quality of your writers from what I understand.

The building determines the quality of the scripts, i.e. the intermeidate scriptwriting building lets you write up to 3 star movies.... you have to unlock the other buildings to write more complex scripts.

if you have a intermediate scriptwriting building your writers would often turn out 2.8 - 3 star movies.

 

[Unison]

Script quality has to do with the scriptwriting building and the quality of your writers from what I understand.

The building determines the quality of the scripts, i.e. the intermeidate scriptwriting building lets you write up to 3 star movies.... you have to unlock the other buildings to write more complex scripts.

if you have a intermediate scriptwriting building your writers would often turn out 2.8 - 3 star movies.

That's such a dumb system.

I really wish there were options to send a finished script back for polishing or to send a finished movie in for test marketing and re-editing.

 

[hyp]

i've been playing it as well. i'm liking it so far but the whole micro management is getting irritating. seems like there's way too much to manage from each relationship the actors have, to the lot, to whatever. you name it.

other than that, i'm having a blast setting up my lot and making movies. i'm in the 50's now and cant wait till i get higher up.

 

[Unison]

Here's the site for the game Hollywood Mogul:

http://www.hollywood-mogul.com/

It's low budget but addicting as hell.

 

[EekTheKat]

Wish they had implemented the Slap system from black and white into this game...I'd love to be able to smack some of my actors + directors around when they're bitching on set or something.

 

[LakeEarth]

How do you remove things off the lot? I wanna get rid of my older, rickity trailers but for the life of me I can't find how to delete anything but paths.

 

[Coop]

you drop a builder on one of the circles next to the building, i think it's the one next to the move circle. Is anybody having a problem rotating the camera? it's not working for me. also, how do i use the photographers?

 

[LakeEarth]

Photographers, you gotta drop them near an actor that's doing something pictureworthy, though I don't know exactly how to set that one up.

And okay, builders destroy, thanks.

 

[swoon]

I dunno... scriptwriting is a total mystery to me. Even if you put people w/ a genre affinity on a script, they tend to churn out crap.

The PC Shareware game Hollywood Mogul allowed you to assign script doctors to an existing script to attempt to polish it. You could have movies in development for ages.

In a lot of ways, that's a much better game than The Movies. It certainly was more addictive and more comprehensible from a business perspective, even if it was entirely text-based.

yea. i loved that game. i check the site every once in awhile to see if 3.0 will ever come out. script doctors who would fix certian parts of a screenplay were life savers. i really wish you could have a staff of them (like the movies) so you didn't keep having to hire them every movie. i've only played the movies for about 6 hours and while i like i don't really see myself coming back to it. the movie maker is powerful but really boring and tedious to work with.

the personality engine seems pretty broken - trying to improve relationships is a nightmare. the tycoon stuff is great, but lacks meat on it - you should be able to make 5 star movies in the 20s. there also should be a genius bonus like if you hire the new hitchock or welles or something.

 

[3phemeral]

That's such a dumb system.

I really wish there were options to send a finished script back for polishing or to send a finished movie in for test marketing and re-editing.

You can --- it's called the Advanced Movie Maker Office. If you drag your scripts into there, you can add a few scenes to make it a full star rating of whatever office it came from -- of course, you can only make your own scripts star rating as high as the highest scipt office you've unlocked.

BTW, certain scenes have higher star ratings, so pay attention to them. You can probably even get a nice 4 star script using 7-8 scenes if you work it right.

Also, the experience of the writers mostly effects the speed of the script written. I'm not entirely certain if it has any bearing on the quality of the script, I'm sure it does -- but a very small one. 90 percent of the time my script writers make the full count of stars, asides from a few missing no more than 2/5's a star.

you drop a builder on one of the circles next to the building, i think it's the one next to the move circle. Is anybody having a problem rotating the camera? it's not working for me. also, how do i use the photographers?

If you press ctrl+drag left mouse button you should be able to scroll. Even easier if you have a scroll wheel, just hold the scroll wheel down and move the mouse.

Photographers, you gotta drop them near an actor that's doing something pictureworthy, though I don't know exactly how to set that one up.

And okay, builders destroy, thanks.

"Picture worthy" events are anything from puking, to fighting with other actors, plastic surgery, rehab, drunk, overeating, etc... There are a ton of them you can use to your advantage. They have negative and positive side effects, so keep in mind what you send out.

the personality engine seems pretty broken - trying to improve relationships is a nightmare. the tycoon stuff is great, but lacks meat on it - you should be able to make 5 star movies in the 20s. there also should be a genius bonus like if you hire the new hitchock or welles or something.

Well, not sure about the whole 5-star thing in the 20's considering other competing studios don't have the ability either. Plus, keep in mind this is supposed to be the beginning of the industry, so it reflects the idea that no real movie-making experience is available. It's all experimental until you have the research to improve. I don't think the game would be very fun if you'd be able to make 5-star movies out of the bat. It'd be satisfying, sure, but personally I like it the way it was designed.

BTW, if you really are concerened with making high-rated movies in the 20's. AFAIK, you can probably make a 3+ star rated movie, but not a 4... if you know how to take advantage of a few things.

Also, concerning building relationships -- it's rather easy if you know how to make the actors happy. Try getting them together when they're in a good mood. There are reasons why there are different settings you can use for "dates". Take notice of what the actors say when you're getting them together, it helps a lot with whether or now they make a good pair. FYI, women can be very jealous of other women, plus -- think stereotypical gold digger if you want a good relationship to form.

 

[LakeEarth]

Does anyone else have this problem of absoluetely no one in the lines to get a job? I desperately need more construction workers but there's no one in line to become a worker, crew member, actor, writer or scientist. I've resorted to changing some of my janitors and entourage to construction, but I'm still getting the "your buildings are in need of urgent repair" every 10 seconds.

 

[SickBoy]

I rarely see anyone in line for a job.

I haven't had any problems with buildings in disrepair (yet), but I'm sure it's coming. I know you can check a building's state by right-clicking or hovering, or something, and I think you can put non-qualified people (actors and others) on the job if you need to.

 

[Hayami]

http://www.islouieandersonalive.com/employees-mod.zip

follow the instructions, then destroy your building and rebuild after applying the mod. PEOPLE GALORE!

 

[SickBoy]

Well, here's my first home-brewed movie. It's actually my second, but the first is 26 scenes long and still in production...

http://s13.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=06L0NR5RYW7MM36VIWSOBH3J7X

 

[LakeEarth]

I rarely see anyone in line for a job.

I haven't had any problems with buildings in disrepair (yet), but I'm sure it's coming. I know you can check a building's state by right-clicking or hovering, or something, and I think you can put non-qualified people (actors and others) on the job if you need to.

My buildings are always in disrepair cause I pretty much filled my lot with sets, there's just so many buildings and not enough guys to check them all.

 

[Ferrio]

Played this the other night, stayed way too up late fucking with it. I just got to the part were I can actually make my own scripts, so the best stuff should be coming up soon. I haven't had any troubles finding people to work positons. I'll just grab people lined up to be janitors to be actors (one turned out to rock in action) and what not. No discretion on their past experience.

Hopefully I'll have some wacky movie to post in the day.

 

[LakeEarth]

That's still early. By the 1930s the amount of people you can hire REALLY slows down.

 

[bishoptl]

Well, here's my first home-brewed movie. It's actually my second, but the first is 26 scenes long and still in production...

http://s13.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=06L0NR5RYW7MM36VIWSOBH3J7X

Haha, that wasn't bad at all. I just managed to research colour for my films, hopefully my quintology "A MAN'S JOURNEY TO SELF" will take advantage of this newfound tech.

That's still early. By the 1930s the amount of people you can hire REALLY slows down.

You'd think that with the depression and all there would be more unemployed folks lazing about. "A MAN'S JOURNEY TO SELF" isn't going to film itself, you know.

 

[ocelittle]

I've been playing it alot, damnit...it's addicting.

I made it to 1955 on one studio, but I wasnt happy with the way I did it, as I wasn't focusing on anything...so I restarted and made genre directors/actors by having them practice all the time, and I did so much better SO much quicker.

awesome game, some flaws (alot of micromanaging that doesn't make sense, the stress meter thing is hard to keep up), but it's addicting like Rollercoaster Tycoon.

 

[LakeEarth]

My first actors are starting to retire so I'm in deep trouble, especially considering the complete lack of additional people to hire. I hope they patch the game to increase the amount of people to wait in line. 1 person every 5 years isn't enough :lol

Anyone else notice that it takes a LOT to get someone addicted to drinking? I always send my guys to the bar after a movie wraps up and they're drink meter never drops that much at all.

 

[SickBoy]

Yeah, I think there are some balance tweaks they need to make via a patch.

I also don't like how long it takes to produce your own movies. I guess the answer might be to make several if you're trying to create an ongoing story (or use sandbox mode), but my 26-scene opus was scripted and in production months before "Love is a Battlefield" and it's still got a good chunk of shooting left. (Thanks for the kind words, Bish, I'm still at a point where I'm making movies as I go based on what's available rather than actually considering the content beforehand, which I think is a key to producing something that is actually watchable rather than just being neat)

I hate to think what'll happen if I start trying to make something "artful," although my problems with the movie-maker in general may render that concern somewhat moot. Then again, maybe things will get more interesting once you gain the ability do interesting things with the camera.

 

[swoon]

[/b]
Y
Well, not sure about the whole 5-star thing in the 20's considering other competing studios don't have the ability either. Plus, keep in mind this is supposed to be the beginning of the industry, so it reflects the idea that no real movie-making experience is available. It's all experimental until you have the research to improve. I don't think the game would be very fun if you'd be able to make 5-star movies out of the bat. It'd be satisfying, sure, but personally I like it the way it was designed.

BTW, if you really are concerened with making high-rated movies in the 20's. AFAIK, you can probably make a 3+ star rated movie, but not a 4... if you know how to take advantage of a few things.

Also, concerning building relationships -- it's rather easy if you know how to make the actors happy. Try getting them together when they're in a good mood. There are reasons why there are different settings you can use for "dates". Take notice of what the actors say when you're getting them together, it helps a lot with whether or now they make a good pair. FYI, women can be very jealous of other women, plus -- think stereotypical gold digger if you want a good relationship to form.

yea. but there is always a steady increase in quality with tech advances it's just a weird way to look at making movies. i think it should be harder to make a 5 star movie in any area. with a enough tech it's not really challenging to make a good movie - as long as yr stuff in kept and your actors are happy.

 

[Ferrio]

My first movie. My only regret is it's dark as hell.

It's called. "Knock Knock. Who's There? Banana."

http://n1nj4.net/~ferrio/random/knockknock.wmv

 

[Blackace]

My first movie. My only regret is it's dark as hell.

It's called. "Knock Knock. Who's There? Banana."

http://n1nj4.net/~ferrio/random/knockknock.wmv

it is very Ferrio! :lol :lol :lol good stuff

 

[3phemeral]

The set disrepair problem can be solved by not building so many sets to begin with. It's better to have a few sets with high novelty value than to have a bunch of sets intermittently used and rarely rapaired. Larger sets are more problematic because the novelty rate deteriorates at the speed as smaller sets, but cost more to maintain, so I'd avoid those.

If you're going to make huge movies while playing the game, it's probably not in your best interest to do so, unless you have the time to deal with stressed out actors, and other problems that can develop while shooting films that lengthy. I'd rather use sandbox without actors misbehaving. Plus, you can have instant shooting and instant rehearsal, which make it all the easier, especially if you're going to make your own movie. I doubt you'd want to sit there and watch it film when I'd rather speed up the process into post-production asap. Especially when the art content has no bearing on the scoring of your movie/studio/actor.

I haven't had any worker problems since a lot of my janitors and builders are high-experienced. I only hire when I absolutely need them, but since it's a slow start in the game when tech is low quality, I utilize that time to increase by workers' experience by making them work my lot the entire time. In the beginning, I usually have only 3/3 Janitors/Builers and have them run around. I hire occasionally when necessary, but I never keep a huge lot. The least experienced ones will get sent off as entourage, until the actor retires and they either get re-assigned to another actor, or left building experience with another job.

My lot is pretty small (around 4/5 sets) with only the necessary buildings in place. I only have 2-4 stars at a time with a majority of them training under extras (where I rehearse them with one genre until they're ready). Writers I have only 2, because they gain experience pretty quickly. I tend to have them write a script every chance they're available and leave them on the backburner until later. If I'm desperate for a script, I'll just make a quick one in AMM. Otherwise, they're mostly put to use (I only have the first-class script office and basic office built).

Researchers you can only allow 6 at a time in one building, and four per research area. I'll never hire a wannabe into any other position than an extra/actor/director. Researchers I tend to use as janitors/builders, but janitors aren't as important, especially if you have trashcans everywhere and you can use your extra cash to reseed the lot with grass. I normally don't care about that, though, because builders are more pertanent to my studio lot maintenance than my janitors.

I think the most exployees I've counted combined was around 26, though I'm not too sure. Could be a little more than that.

 

[Ferrio]

Post more movies!

 

[bishoptl]

http://www.islouieandersonalive.com/employees-mod.zip

follow the instructions, then destroy your building and rebuild after applying the mod. PEOPLE GALORE!

Man, this is an absolute life saver. Thanks!