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Appendices 7.1 Tomb Raider Resources on the Internet This document may cover a lot of ground in a number of areas, but by no means is it the final word on Tomb Raider and how to survive it, and nor is it meant to be. I don't believe I have covered absolutely everything concerning Tomb Raider. If I have however missed something you are more than likely to find it out on the Internet. The Internet is an outstanding and lively bustling medium and can prove useful to both the beginner and expert Tomb Raider fan alike. It's a place where we can all learn, interact and contribute as a member of a thriving gamming community. The following section presents a number of places on the Internet where you yourself can go and visit. Note: Throughout this entire document, dozens of web site addresses and Usenet newsgroup locations have been offered for further and future reference, but this chapter is dedicated to the best of them. http://www.core-design.com/ Although Core Design's web site would probably be the most obvious visit to find Tomb Raider information, it's own web site contains very little about Lara and her games. The site itself has recently undergone a redesign but the only information you will find is related to the Next Generation version and even that is thin. Eidos Interactive's own website contains the bulk of the information and it's here you will find the collection of official sites including a very lively forum for Tomb Raider at http://www.eidosinteractive.com/forums/. If you are looking for information about the games themselves you best start with http://www.tombraider.com/. However if you are more inclined to know Lara's vital statistics you can find all that out at http://www.eidos.co.uk/lara.htm. Or if you would like to purchase anything from the latest game to beach towels with Lara on it then you could always try the Eidos Company Store at http://www.eidosstore.com/. For those of you interested in the movie and soundtrack you can find information on both at http://www.tombraidermovie.com/ and http://www.tombraidersoundtrack.com/ respectively. 7.1.2 Tomb Raider USENET Newsgroup To stay in the know of all the latest happenings, to exchange
ideas or ask queries for yourself, the alt.games.tombraider newsgroup on Usenetis a must for any Tomb Raider fan to visit at
least a few times a week. This is the liveliest newsgroup you will find on the Internet dedicated to Tomb Raider and at times
of new game releases you can expect many tens of new threads a Common posts include "How do I get past the chef in Chronicles?", "Can you complete the game with using the pistols only?", and "Time to run and hide... It's the TR Wish list again..." The alt.games.tombraider FAQ is available at http://www.3dactionplanet.com/tombraider/tombraiderfaq/ 7.1.3 Recommended Tomb Raider Fan Websites The following web sites and Usenet newsgroups featured in this section are listed alphabetically. They are in no particular category however each site has a sort of mini review, which is from personal opinion formed when I visited them whilst writing this FAQ. Sally's Tomb This is the only Tomb Raider fan site to win an award that I
know of. After one visit you'll know why. The flash enhanced interface is very clean and easy to get around. The sites main
content seems to be Sally's fanfic stories. So if your after a decent fanfic story then you couldn't go wrong by giving this Shotgun City This is Dracman's web site. You'll often find him lurking around the alt.games.tombraider newsgroup helping those in trouble with regards to their 3Dfx graphics cards. And it's for this that his website gets my recommendation. The sites pages contain a wealth of information including solutions to fixing problems. Stellalune's Walkthroughs Regarded as one of the best Tomb Raider walkthrough sites on the Internet you'll find many a fan that will recommend this site. The Webmistress of this site has also added a decent section devoted to the Level Editor so if that's what your into the be sure to give it a visit. Tomb Raider Chronicles Despite this sites address it is not an official web site some people think that it is. However despite that both Core Design and Eidos Interactive do use it to spread the word on its games making it a truly excellent resource. It's News and Level Editor sections are unrivalled by anything else on the Internet and because of this it is officially endorsed by Prima Publishing who publish the official Tomb Raider strategy guides. It's one of my favourite sites and one of my regular haunts and therefore it should be one of yours as well. Tomb Raider Forums These forums are managed and controlled by the same guys who maintain the Tomb Raider Chronicles web site and as you would expect it is one of the best and it shows in the number of members it has registered. It has a really easy to use interface and accompanied with some of the best moderators you could come across this is a must see resource. Tomb Raider Toolbox This site is just a collection of tools and utilities for use with the Tomb Raider: Level Editor. Despite the fact that it has no main content of its own it's a quick little handy resource to find the most commonly used utilities. It also archives older versions of the programs so if you need to backtrack to an earlier version of a program for compatibility reasons then this is the place to take a look. Tomb Raider Traveler's Guide This is another walkthrough Web site. The Webmaster actually takes his time in writing the guides making them very comprehensive and even lists the total number of kills and pickups you need if you really want to be that precise. A great feature is that you can have the pages hide the information concerning secrets if you would like not to know where they are. 7.1.4 Recommended Tomb Raider Tools and Utilities The following is a list of links and descriptions for web sites that offer something in the way of utilities for Tomb raider. Just about every fan will find them hopefully as useful as I have. The utilities range from simple patches to full blown applications for use with the Level Editor. Bink/Smacker FMV viewer From the fourth game Core employed a new format in which to encode their FMV sequences. This site, the codecs creator, offers a fantastic free viewer and converter program that will allow you to view the FMV sequences outside of the game. It's a "must have" program. Escapeplay The first, second, and third games used what is believed to be
an in house file format that core used to encode their first games FMV sequences. This utility will allow you to view the
games FMV sequences outside of the game. It also works with other games including Soul Reaver that employ the same file Texture Edit If you are a Level Editor user and have made your own Texture Tile sets you will know how frustrating it is to get all those tiles to align correctly. This little program is designed to take away that frustration by making it easy to align tiles and therefore create your own Texture Tile sets easily and quickly. It has support for over twenty different image file formats and saves in the truevision targa format used by the Level Editor. Another "must have" tool for any Level Editor user. Tomb Raider 2/3/4 Flight Mode Path If there was ever an award for the most useful patch ever then I think this one will be the winner. Yep it's that useful. Ever wanted to take a look at some inaccessible area? If the answer is yes then this truly great patch will allow you to do just that. With a little configuration you can map a special key that will allow Lara to fly in game when pressed. What are you waiting for? Go get this one now! TrsgEditor The Tomb Raider Savegame Editor allows you to "artificially enhance" your ammo count, give yourself all of the weapons, more Medipack's or flares. Its major benefit lies in the fact that it can edit savegames from all of the Tomb Raider games including the Times Exclusive level and Chronicles. 7.2 Hardware Manufacturers Websites 7.3 Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Symbols The following primer is both a glossary and a list of commonly used abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols used either on the alt.games.tombraider newsgroup, in this FAQ, or elsewhere on the Internet.
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