Rayman Raving Rabbids - Prototype Restoration Mod

[Droolie]

I want to thank RayCarrot for making an amazing and super easy to use UI for these mods and Got4n for creating this really cool video and helping me test the Steam version. And both of them for putting up with me constantly adding features and dragging this on for weeks.

To clarify, this is a mod for the PC version of the game. Everything in this video AND MORE is playable if you have the GOG or Steam version of Rayman Raving Rabbids installed (other versions are probably not supported). You just need Rayman Control Panel.

Apart from the already impressive features shown off in the video, you can:

• Play Duel a.k.a. "Bunnies are shooting all over the place", the lost minigame (only fully works in multiplayer)
• Explore almost every map in the game as Rayman. The Bunny Hunts are especially impressive! My favorite level to explore as prototype Rayman sadly didn't make the video (it's Bunnies love digging tunnels, with Bunnies aren't scared of the dark a close second).
• View debug info
• Discover prototype rabbid powers not showcased in the video and never seen in any trailer. I'll let you discover these for yourselves :p
• Kick Globox babies. I wonder why they even bothered adding those Unicef videos.
• Enable a scrapped flashlight mechanic (in Bunnies aren't scared of the dark. Perhaps originally needing a flashlight for this level was the reason for the level's name?)
• Play as 8 different characters aside from Rayman
• Fight rabbids with fur
• Modify various parameters such as Rayman's HP, Rabbid HP
• And more

I hope you will enjoy all this

If you try it out (and I hope you will), I recommend you play with a gamepad - an Xbox 360 gamepad does the job really nicely. The game was made with gamepads in mind, though I modded in keyboard controls for those who don't have a gamepad they can use.

If you use an Xbox 360 gamepad, the controls are as follows:

• A: Jump / Hold in the air to use helicopter. Keep tapping to gain extra height. Double tap when mounted to dismount.
• X: Attack
• Y: Use grappling hook
• LB: Toggle light / Hold to control dance tempo if enabled
• LT: Look mode if enabled
• RB: Attack / Press or hold to use finishers if enabled
• RT: Dodge roll / Ground pound / Roll and jump multiple times to boost if enabled. This boosts mounts as well.
• D-Pad Up: Toggle dance mode. In dance mode, press ABXY or use the left analog stick to perform dance moves
• Left analog stick: Move Rayman
• Right analog stick: Camera controls if enabled
• Back: Noclip mode (very useful if you're stuck or if you fall through the floor. Expect to use this a lot)
• Start: Pause

PS: Using a patched BF file (column on the right in Rayman Control Panel) is recommended as it allows you to restore Rayman's original sounds from the prototype and fix an issue with Rayman's footstep sound due to it being missing otherwise.

You can get Rayman Control Panel at https://raym.app/ .

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Update (14/10/2021): Here's a look at some work-in-progress mods based on the Prototype Restoration mod.

[Elite Piranha]

Incredible job guys!

[arnoldfranklin]

I saw it. It's cool. Thanks for uploading this . Funny thing is I watched part of the older video yesterday, I think lol

[PluMGMK]

Oh my God, it's finally happened! This is absolutely fantastic guys, I can't wait to try it out! I may have to work around the fact that I currently have RCP and RRR in separate wineprefixes, but where there's a will there's a way…

From the video, it looks like some of those "fight moves" ended up being recycled for Rayman Origins. The animations seem really similar.

Now I'm more curious than ever at this whole plum-to-pig transformation. I guess it was a really gradual thing, until they got close to release of the party game and just changed the model to make it less weird. But then seeing the original behaviour with the pig model… Headcrabs anyone?

[Droolie]

Now I'm more curious than ever at this whole plum-to-pig transformation. I guess it was a really gradual thing, until they got close to release of the party game and just changed the model to make it less weird. But then seeing the original behaviour with the pig model… Headcrabs anyone?

Haha, I was reminded of headcrabs too.
The plums weren't really transformed into pigs - it's similar to how the eagle, the bat and the rabbid UFO all share the same "PNJ_Volant" behavior, with a simple "creature type" integer that tells the game which sub-behavior should be used.
The game has code for multiple types of pigs and sheep (some sheep have code to be targeted and abducted by bunny UFOs), as well as multiple types of plums. They are all "PNJ_Prune". The plum also has code for throwing it onto stakes just like in Rayman 2 and 3, so if RRR had any stakes... well, pigs would be sacrificed.

I'll have to do a write up later of all the things I found in the code that I couldn't restore. It's quite a lot and just finding it all made me want to play the actual prototype even more. I really hope it will still be discovered/leaked one day.

[Sevy]

Lets say for now Droolie you have made a fantastic discovery bringing all this to light! Just think...this COULD have been the 4th game if this wasnt scrapped for what we have now!

Brilliant work eitherway!

[PluMGMK]

The plums weren't really transformed into pigs - it's similar to how the eagle, the bat and the rabbid UFO all share the same "PNJ_Volant" behavior, with a simple "creature type" integer that tells the game which sub-behavior should be used.
The game has code for multiple types of pigs and sheep (some sheep have code to be targeted and abducted by bunny UFOs), as well as multiple types of plums. They are all "PNJ_Prune". The plum also has code for throwing it onto stakes just like in Rayman 2 and 3, so if RRR had any stakes... well, pigs would be sacrificed.

OK, I see! So basically, they coded up the plum and then for ease of code re-use expanded that PNJ to encompass anything small that Rayman can either carry or ride. Then I guess that "crying plum" business that GOT4N mentioned a few years ago was probably just that they hadn't decided yet whether that animal was a pig or a sheep or something else…
Also because I watched this so late, my sleep last night was disturbed by thoughts that can only have originated with the "pigs as headcrabs" concept

Also, Pink is the spider we saw in those early screenshots. Very interesting!

[Ilyaman]

Thank you so much Droolie!

[Hunchman801]

This is a great idea, and a very good way to build upon the discoveries made a few years ago.

The multitude of new actions that were once supposed to be available in this game is really interesting, though there's so many I feel that it might have led to a somewhat confusing gameplay! Regardless, they're a lot of fun to watch.

Why call the warthogs rhinos in the video, though? They look absolutely nothing like each other, so I can only assume that they're called that in the game files, like pigs and plums, and that actual rhinoceroses were meant to feature in the game? Otherwise I'm paying for the trip to the zoo!

[Droolie]

The multitude of new actions that were once supposed to be available in this game is really interesting, though there's so many I feel that it might have led to a somewhat confusing gameplay! Regardless, they're a lot of fun to watch.

Yeah. It's unclear if all mechanics were meant to be used, but I think most of them were. I think this large variety of things to do was actually a great idea though:

From what they said in interviews they wanted to make this a game with larger free-roaming areas. Playing as prototype Rayman now immediately confirmed this for me - Rayman feels extremely good to control with larger areas to run and jump around in. It would have been a bit boring if those areas were empty, but it seems like they were full of life and things you could interact with (but not necessarily had to)!

Large groups of rabbids would attack and try to abduct the creatures of Rayman's world, which you could defend and then by having Rayman ride them, they could open up new paths (sharks could take you underwater, rhinos could rush to and break obstacles, eagles could fly and bring you to high places, etc.). With a multitude of options available for how to defeat the rabbids (combat with Rayman's newfound knowledge of kung-fu, dancing to get them to switch sides and fight their leader, taking over rabbid vehicles and using their power against them, etc) you could have fun finding your own solution, in a sandbox style of way.

In dungeons then, tighter passages made the game more linear and allowed for more platforming, using both Rayman and his mounts, and constantly dropping new surprises like platforms that had their movement tied to the rhythm of a song. That was the kind of game I think they were trying to make -- perhaps not the most polished, but with a ton of mechanics so players could make their own wacky experience.

Clearly a different type of game than any earlier (or later) Rayman game, and definitely one I would have liked to see.

Why call the warthogs rhinos in the video, though? They look absolutely nothing like each other, so I can only assume that they're called that in the game files, like pigs and plums, and that actual rhinoceroses were meant to feature in the game? Otherwise I'm paying for the trip to the zoo!

Lol, good point! They are indeed called rhinos in the game files most of the time, with only a few instances of "phacochère" being used. It seems the warthogs are just rhinos with a warthog skin and warthog sounds. :p

[paulnewman2001]

Great work!, some of the areas in the final game were possibly used in the prototype (although some sections in them were undoubtedly cut), the colisseum definetely was given the screenshots and concept arts of Rayman in a cell, we'd have most likely been given more freedom in exploration, eventually leaving the cell on your own considering that Ray needed to escape, it's interesting to think about.

[ChronicTraitor]

Ooh this looks really interesting!

Since I have the steam version of Rabbids I really ought to try my hand at getting this to work!
Being able to mess around with restored stuff sounds amazing, how did you guys figure this all out?

[hoodlumsworld]

Awesome discoveries, I wonder how much is left to find now. This feels so different from the final game that I even wonder why they did not start a brand new project instead of building upon the old one.

[Droolie]

Anyway, I still want to list some things I found in the game's code (and in the files of Horsez 2) but couldn't activate, either because the objects aren't present in the game or because too much of the code was removed.

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Lums: These would be found in cages that Rabbids could hold, or just out in the open. These were different from Rayman 2's Lums. Apparently these could form a sort of "medallion" or "talisman". I'm not sure what exactly they did aside from restoring your disguise. I found these sounds in the Xbox 360 version (converted them to mp3 as wav is not supported on RPC):

Lums_aura_loop.mp3

(31.17 KiB) Downloaded 320 times

Lums_talisman.mp3

(10.22 KiB) Downloaded 327 times

The disguise system: By pressing Circle you would be able to switch between disguises. Taking damage would remove your disguise, and collecting Lums would restore it.

The dance system was supposed to work like this: Sometimes, you would encounter a group of rabbids with 1 "leader rabbid" that would be very tough to defeat normally.
By walking up to a "dance mushroom" and pressing Square (PS2), you would trigger a dance contest with this leader rabbid.
In this contest, you would have to press the correct buttons (X, Square, Circle, Triangle or the analog stick) on a beat to perform dance moves. Depending on how well you did, a JUICE meter would fill up and with enough JUICE, rabbids would switch sides (literally jump to your side during the dance, or the leader's) and as a result, it would be possible to use them in your fight against the leader later.
To get any of this to work in the mod, I had to add a custom toggle for the dance system and put Rabbids in their "companion" state directly.

The song you danced to would depend on the disguise you chose, and I assume this would influence how the rabbids acted in their "charmed" state.
In the mod I released, you can still see this effect! If you toggle dance mode (DPad Up) and hold "Control Tempo" (LB), the game will play a beat with the same tempo as the song that was used in the prototype.
If you change your costume, a different tempo will be used and Rayman's moves will be faster/slower.
These were some of the different songs in the proto (filename = costume). The Xbox 360 version still has these, however only a few seconds remain of each one:

RRR_Dance_winner.7z

(1.87 MiB) Downloaded 320 times

Platforms could also be influenced by the same beat/tempo system that was used for the dances, and could be timed to that for rhythmic platforming challenges. Think Mario Galaxy's levels where platforms switch on a beat.

I mentioned "dance mushrooms" earlier, but there would also be other special types of mushrooms that would spawn health/mana restoring items. These also used the Lum sounds, which suggests they were different types of Lums (red ones, I guess):

Mana_generation.mp3

(16.22 KiB) Downloaded 278 times

Mana_recuperation.mp3

(11.63 KiB) Downloaded 276 times

When not focused on Rayman, small bunny UFOs would try to shoot at sheep. As I described in my previous post, it seems that various times in the game, groups of rabbids and their vehicles would be found attacking the creatures of Rayman's world -- helping them would enable you to ride those creatures to get to new places.

The following mounts were implemented:

• PNJ_Quadri: Rhino, Tiger (Rhino is used in the game with a warthog model)
• PNJ_Shark: Shark, Anglerfish
• PNJ_Spider: Spider, serpent, quadripode (Only quadripodes are still used in the game)
• PNJ_Volant: Eagle, bat, UFO
• PNJ_Lapin: Rabbid
• PNJ_Bunny_Saucer: Troop transports (still used in the game - it spawns splinter cell rabbids. But no code for riding), scooter
• PNJ_Prune: Plum, sheep (used in game with a pig model)
• PNJ_Pigeon: Pigeon
• PNJ_Bipod: Bipod robots (still used in the game, but no code for riding)

Mounts could also be used against you by the rabbids. For example, while in water, rabbids could attack you from below with sharks. While on land, rabbids had a "bull rush" attack with the rhino. The code for all this is still partly there, but the shark doesn't exist in the game (and all we have left of its code is function names) and the bull rush attack is replaced with an error message "What are we doing here?" like many other things in the game.

Bipods, like the larger one in "Bunnies Helped Tame the Wild West" could shoot lasers. This is why the models still have the red "eye". The sound effects for this also remain in the Xbox 360 version. However the code for this is removed, and this was replaced with very cartoony missiles that you have to shoot back at them -- probably, the lasers were deemed not family-friendly enough.

One last thing - even in the party game there was initially an FPS level themed after the war environment shown in the first trailer. However, this was cut very late in development and replaced with "Bunnies have a soft spot for plungers" (again it was probably deemed not family-friendly enough). This new level was designed in a hurry and they reused the environment of "Bunnies helped tame the wild west" for it. If you ever wondered why this level is so short and lame, this is why.

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TL;DR: They had a ton of mechanics already implemented -- much more work was done on this than you'd expect. And it all sounds pretty nice. I really, really hope this prototype will be found one day.

[PluMGMK]

Oh man, Lums… Also, Rayman's own dance piece was supposed to be the Rain Dance from Rayman 2? Might have been more suitable if they had a "Raybox"-type disguise. Or maybe it was a placeholder…

Anyway, I got it working. The strangest thing that's happened to me so far is when I wanted to see what would happen if I tried to get Rayman to attack an explosive barrel in the aforementioned "Bunnies have a soft spot for plungers". For some reason it attached itself to his head and made the camera go berserk! It was like when Homer Simpson did an impression of the "Prime Minister of Ireland"

If anyone else is trying to do this on Linux: as I hinted above, making the Control Panel and RRR coexist under Wine was not that straightforward. I have a WinePrefix set up for RRR using Lutris, with DXVK enabled. I started following Steo's instructions to get the RCP up and running in the same prefix, but it wouldn't launch with DXVK for some reason. I tried disabling DXVK, which worked, but then RRR stopped accepting keyboard input whenever I switched away and switched back, making it useless… So I reenabled DXVK, and also made sure I had a non-DXVK version of d3d9.dll in the same folder as the RCP EXE, which worked in conjunction with the relevant DLL overrides from Steo's instructions. Now it works, except that the RCP can't accept mouse input while the game is also running. You don't need a mouse to navigate the UI though – Tab and Space do the job!
Note that all this is true under the Sway Wayland compositor – YMMV with different environments…

[Nve]

Amazing job. Thank you for showing it and please don't stop to surprise us.

[Rayman Saturn]

This is absolutely fantastic, thank you for your incredible work!

Honestly, this is such a waste of potential… I’m surprised Ubisoft didn’t even try to make another game by working with this scrapped content. Even as a smaller spin-off, it could have produced an amazing game.

[PluMGMK]

Well, marshalling all of that potential into a coherent experience would probably have taken an awful lot of development effort, and it would appear to have failed the first time (hence the party-game). I don't think management would have been willing to sanction that effort, especially after discovering how easy it was to milk the party games for cash. So it's not that surprising that it was all just left to rot…

[Rayman Saturn]

After playing the mod in depth, it really feels like it could have been turned into a decent beat’em all with a bit of platforming. It sure would have taken quite some work, but if some previous games like Rayman 3 could function with so much emphasis on action this could have worked very well as an interesting spin-off.
Since Ubisoft Montpellier couldn’t manage to make a good game out of it, getting a studio with more experience with this type of gameplay would probably have been the best decision to make if Ubisoft had chosen to give these ideas a chance. Sadly, it won’t ever happen, cuz Ubi loves dat easy money… Come on, Ubisoft, I want my over-the-top Rayman beat’em up with badass songs made by PlatinumGames.

[ChronicTraitor]

I got the control panel functioning the other night (I'm amazed at how user-friendly it is!) and went totally nuts with being able to freely look around places where the camera was locked into a certain view. Cosmic and I solved lots of years-old mysteries and wondering what's back there's.

I didn't expect there to be so much collision where you weren't allowed to go, it was fun just wandering around, or no clipping in space to see things from a different angle. The anatomy mini-game is probably one of the creepiest, there's something about the minimalism of the blank gray horizon with a single light/shadow source on a small wallpaper square floating in space that's surprisingly unsettling...

Some of the mini-games didn't seem to work in-terms of free roaming, like the carnival wheel one, I wonder why that was when some of the smallest of games put Rayman somewhere.

A Soft Spot For Plungers is probably one of my favorite shootouts just for how crazy fast it goes, it's surprisingly hard to 1000 that one because of the amount of points flying all over the place.