Chapter 0 Restoration

A Chapter 0 existed at some point during development, but it was cut before the game's release: a short prologue played as Ashley, at night, ending in her capture. This mod restores it, integrating it seamlessly into the game as a real chapter that runs before Chapter 1.

What Chapter 0 was:

Ashley starts out alone on a path that is no longer accessible in the final game, but is still in the game files with most of its details and collision removed. You can see it at the beginning of the second trailer.

As she moves forward she comes across the cultists killing the woman from the first cutscene of the final game. That cutscene actually originated in Chapter 0, and it still uses the same lighting, with the fog removed. Ashley freaks out and runs, which leads into the chapter itself. It ends with her captured at the fort.

• Restores a fully playable Chapter 0 as Ashley, in the village at night, before Leon ever gets there.

• Ashley's phone works as a flashlight, using the cut accessory and its own light.

• She moves with her own frightened animation set.

• Ganados patrol the route, and Luis is dragged off by one of them along the way.

• It behaves like any other chapter: chapter card, save slot, loading screen and chapter-end screen.

• The chapter ends with her capture at the fort and hands over to Chapter 1 as Leon.

• Fixes a native bug that made Ashley's original level animations stop working after the first time.

The chapter was left unfinished and part of its files never shipped with the final game, so what survives is restored as it is, the missing pieces are recreated from what it left behind, and what was never shipped simply cannot be restored.

What is restored and what is recreated:

Chapter 0 is a mix, and it is worth being straight about which part is which.

Restored, the game's own:

• The chapter's level, with light changes: objects, loot boxes, memos and interactions that make no sense for Ashley are disabled, among others.

• Where you start. You begin inside the area the chapter itself marks as its opening.

• Every animation Ashley uses in the level (except the phone arm animation when she is not holding).

• All the animations of holding the phone up to light the way.

• Her phone and its light. The level is very dark; without it, it is hard to move at all.

• The phone light switches off while she crouches. That is the original design, not my code.

• She goes from frightened to desperate by herself, at the point the chapter marks.

• The Ganados talk to Ashley as Ashley, and as one person.

• The fixed cameras and the chapter's own checkpoints still fire where they were placed, including the camera that turns to the bridge where the Ganado carries Luis away.

• Some wooden boards added for the final game, never meant for Chapter 0, are removed.

• The interaction prompts along the route. They belong to the level itself: each one was placed to start a cutscene that no longer exists.

Recreated, rebuilt from what the chapter left behind:

• The Ganados. Chapter 0 kept no enemies of its own, only the markers that name them: a pair standing and talking, a figure waiting in a cave, a lookout, and the group that comes down the hill. The cast is rebuilt from those markers.

• Luis being carried off. The chapter already marks the moment and even has a camera for it; the Ganado who carries him and the timing are mine.

• Her arm animations while carrying the phone. The game only kept the ones for holding it up; the ones for moving with it were removed and had to be rebuilt.

• The chapter's title, in every language the game ships.

• The save checkpoint she gets on arrival, and the hand-off to Chapter 1 at the end.

Reinterpretation, my own additions:

• The music. Chapter 0's own music files are missing from the game, so the village music plays instead so the level is not silent. When it changes is my choice.

• The save picture and the loading screen. The game left Chapter 0 a slot and never filled it, so the photo is mine.

• The developer notes you read on screen. Nothing like this was ever shown to a player; the wording is mine.

How to play:

Start a New Game. The flow is now:

New Game -> Opening cutscene -> CHAPTER 0 -> Chapter 1

Nothing else changes. Existing saves and every other chapter play exactly as in vanilla.

Installation:

1. Install REFramework[/u