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The Use of "Night Mode"

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by Luigi Link, Jan 11, 2003.

  1. Luigi Link

    Luigi Link

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    As you may know, the developers at Sonic Team had no SonED to edit their levels with, and if they did, it was much more primitive than ours. Knowing this, they programmed a debug mode in the Sonic games to get the information they needed to know from the game.

    The "Night Mode" itself is actually pretty useful. It takes advantage of the VDP's shadowing and highlighting ability. For all tiles on the Plane A High and Plane B High graphic layers, the VDP highlights those tiles. For all tiles on the Plane A Low and Plane B Low graphic layers, the VDP shadows these tiles. Sonic Team could then see if they got the highs and lows in their proper spot.

    A lot of you know this already, a lot may not. So this is here for the general informing of everyone.

    For more codes like this, visit my doc, the Genesis Sonic Code Database, at http://www.angelfire.com/vi/zgamesoftware/...onic/index.html These do not have the beta codes.
     
  2. Gunner112k

    Gunner112k

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    I noticed that before... But they should have taken out the night mode in the final version, though.
     
  3. Jacko

    Jacko

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    I never knew that...

    Learn something new every day. :P
     
  4. Nemesis

    Nemesis

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    I'll be damned. I never knew about that. :shock:
     
  5. RattleMan

    RattleMan

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    It can't be! It's the appocolypze(sp)! The great hacker didn't know something! O_O But what's freaky, is earlier, I was playing S2B in Night Mode O_o
     
  6. Juki

    Juki

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    definitely not Terra Galactica
    ... I didnt know that either =P
     
  7. LOst

    LOst

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    Neither me :shock:
     
  8. Hmm. o.o I knew of this, I never got it to work, because I was always using Genecyst. =/ So I never saw that 'highlighted' and 'shaded' bit. Wonder what it looks like.
     
  9. I've always wondered why there was a night mode. It never made any sense to me.
     
  10. I knew about it...that's weird..."Night" mode belongs there just as much as Debug,infact,it's really part of it,because you have to enable debug to use it in the final.
     
  11. Kat

    Kat

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    hmm.

    I didn't know that either XD I always wondered why there was a night mode..... I didn't think it had any use

    ~Kat
     
  12. Digital Xeron

    Digital Xeron

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    I never knew that myself


    I guess Sonic Team needed some way to test objects, so they created Debug

    for Level Select: they needed a way to teet zones without having to go through the zones before it
     
  13. Nibble

    Nibble

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    I knew this. It was mentioned somewhere else before, but I forgot where.
     
  14. Luigi Link

    Luigi Link

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    Actually, they could've just changed the level to start with and do it that way, but that would require going into the file and editing this and that...pressing A + Start is much easier.
     
  15. Wasn't the code....

    for that mode enter level select's code and press s + start to choose your starting level at night or sumthin? I knew of that. I thought some other sonic games had them as well.
     
  16. Luigi Link

    Luigi Link

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    No, not of the mode, the mode's use.
     
  17. ICEknight

    ICEknight

    Researcher Researcher
    I already knew about that, but there's something I'm still wondering about this "layer debug" mode. Is it possible to activate it in either of the games that are known to use older versions of the same engine, such as Sonic 1, Castle of Illusion or Ghouls 'N' Ghosts?


    There you have this week's mystery. :wink:
     
  18. Overlord

    Overlord

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    Heh, I always thought of "Night Mode" as a freaked up bug... XD

    Having said that, I do know what it was used for, 'cos I've heard this before... :)
     
  19. Nemesis

    Nemesis

    Tech Member
    And your answer:

    Yes.

    This isn't a complex thing at all actually. The highlighting/shadowing are all being handled by the VDP, and a simple register modification can activate it anywhere, in any game.

    Make a savestate and change byte 106 from 81 to 89.
     
  20. ICEknight

    ICEknight

    Researcher Researcher
    :shock:
    [​IMG][​IMG]

    Wow, thanks for the info, Nemesis! That's very interesting..