[Azukara]

So, Sonic 4: Genesis Edition but minus the Genesis, eh? I can dig it. Would love to see the levels look less like plastic and have better physics.

EDIT: Disregard original post, typo

This post has been edited by Azukara: 14 October 2010 - 08:40 PM

[Solaris Paradox]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4gkWE7mWtQ

Skip to the 3:00 mark.

I want to see a hack whose sole function is to change the bumper sound in the Special Stages into THAT sound.

Make it happen, Retro. Child's play, right?

This post has been edited by Solaris Paradox: 14 October 2010 - 08:40 PM

[Endri]

Since this is public now, I might as well ask here. Do you need to have a JTAG 360 if you edit the OFFICIAL release that was bought from XBL?

Going off of precedent alone, I'd say the only time you'd need a JTAG is if you're going to edit the executable itself, if this game is anything like '06, that'll be the only protected file.

In the case of every XBLA game, or DLC, or GOD (game on demand) contents are container files that contains the actual game data.


So the awnser is yes. Yes, you need a jtag, because every LIVE or PIRS or CON containers are RSA signed, and the key is based on the Xbox 360's private key plus the MD5 hash of parts of the file. Therefore, if you change a single byte in the game, consequently the container file will have a brand new MD5 hash, and the RSA key will not match with the new MD5 hash of the hacked file, and it won't even show on the non jtagged 360 (well, in fact it will show for a fraction of second, but it'll suddenly disappear). If you are going to hack the game, you'll need to repack the game into a container in order to play it as a full version. It is then signed with a devkit private key (that is known), and requires a jtagged system because it bypasses RSA check, and can run unsigned code.

If you have a jtag, you can unpack the game and run it through the default.xex executable, though the game will show up as trial, because the "ownership" information is read from the container file that the game was supposed to be stored at.

So, in short, the only time a jtag wouldn't be required is if you, for some reason, knew the Xbox 360's private key. And if such a key was avaiable on the internet, the jtag hack wouldn't be needed at all anymore.

Really? I remember editing a GH3 ISO to enable autobot and it worked on my non JTAG'd 360. I haven't used it online and I'm not banned. :s

An ISO is very different from a LIVE content. As long as you don't moddify the main executable (default.xex), everything can be moddified. Content files are... self contained; the file itself is RSA protected.

Also, Polygon Jim, are you using the Level Editor I put together? I've built another one that can edit objects and decorations as well. I'll upload it later.

And... are you running the game on the Wii or on Dolphin? I have yet to figure out a confortble way to moddify the Wii version, without having to build a new .wad everytime and delete and reinstall the game to see the differences.

Editing the 360 version is much better; moddify on the PC and load the files directly on the 360 via FTP. Very convinient.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4gkWE7mWtQ

Skip to the 3:00 mark.

I want to see a hack whose sole function is to change the bumper sound in the Special Stages into THAT sound.

Make it happen, Retro. Child's play, right?

I could definitely do this in a heartbeat, but... why would we possibly want to have that in a game that we are trying to fix... ?

This post has been edited by Endri: 14 October 2010 - 08:43 PM

[Tidbit]

Not going to post pretty much anything until I get at least a full stage done but I'm pretty much planning to make Sonic 4 better. Once we get full level editing done I'm going to remake all the art to be better, remove all the stupid cell shading, redo all the level layouts to be actually fun, and attempt to fix the physics a bit.

Dear Polygon Jim,

I love you.

Tidbit

[Polygon Jim]

Since this is public now, I might as well ask here. Do you need to have a JTAG 360 if you edit the OFFICIAL release that was bought from XBL?

Going off of precedent alone, I'd say the only time you'd need a JTAG is if you're going to edit the executable itself, if this game is anything like '06, that'll be the only protected file.

In the case of every XBLA game, or DLC, or GOD (game on demand) contents are container files that contains the actual game data.


So the awnser is yes. Yes, you need a jtag, because every LIVE or PIRS or CON containers are RSA signed, and the key is based on the Xbox 360's private key plus the MD5 hash of parts of the file. Therefore, if you change a single byte in the game, consequently the container file will have a brand new MD5 hash, and the RSA key will not match with the new MD5 hash of the hacked file, and it won't even show on the non jtagged 360 (well, in fact it will show for a fraction of second, but it'll suddenly disappear). If you are going to hack the game, you'll need to repack the game into a container in order to play it as a full version. It is then signed with a devkit private key (that is known), and requires a jtagged system because it bypasses RSA check, and can run unsigned code.

If you have a jtag, you can unpack the game and run it through the default.xex executable, though the game will show up as trial, because the "ownership" information is read from the container file that the game was supposed to be stored at.

So, in short, the only time a jtag wouldn't be required is if you, for some reason, knew the Xbox 360's private key. And if such a key was avaiable on the internet, the jtag hack wouldn't be needed at all anymore.

Really? I remember editing a GH3 ISO to enable autobot and it worked on my non JTAG'd 360. I haven't used it online and I'm not banned. :s

An ISO is very different from a LIVE content. As long as you don't moddify the main executable (default.xex), everything can be moddified. Content files are... self contained; the file itself is RSA protected.

Also, Polygon Jim, are you using the Level Editor I put together? I've built another one that can edit objects and decorations as well. I'll upload it later.

And... are you running the game on the Wii or on Dolphin? I have yet to figure out a confortble way to moddify the Wii version, without having to build a new .wad everytime and delete and reinstall the game to see the differences.

Editing the 360 version is much better; moddify on the PC and load the files directly on the 360 via FTP. Very convinient.

I'm running it on Dolphin for my tests because it's fast and easy. I can repack the game within about 45 seconds and be running it already. Everything in the Wii version is identical to the 360 version in terms of format, and the layout files and collision files are byte for byte identical between them so you shouldn't need to change your tools any for it.


Also please do upload that new version of the editor.

[Azukara]

And... are you running the game on the Wii or on Dolphin? I have yet to figure out a confortble way to moddify the Wii version, without having to build a new .wad everytime and delete and reinstall the game to see the differences.

Most of us are just using Dolphin to emulate it, so yeah, that's what we (or at least I) was getting at.

[Endri]

Regarding the level layouts edit, Dimps had the brilliant idea of using 3D blocks to build each chunks of the level, so the structure is similar to the Genesis games, except the chunks are 3D models. If I knew the 3D format, I could edit my level editor to be more similar to SonED2, for example.

Unfortunatelly, I'm not with enough time to research such format. Polygon Jim knows it though, but he's not telling. It doesn't help the fact that he cannot program, so we are stuck in this endless loop.

I can make out how the level looks like based on the collision data, though. So editting the layouts with the visual aid of the collision data is possible.

Also, extra life! 1000th post.

[Bosco]

Can somebody tell me how the music works in this game?
It seems to play pretty slow in the first video of this topic, and plays faster sometimes. Is the music played with MIDI instruments or something like that?

This post has been edited by Bosco: 14 October 2010 - 10:18 PM

[Endri]

The Wii version, yes. It's sequenced. I belive the iDevices versions too. The 360/PS3 versions are proper musics, and are in the ADX format.

[Bosco]

So, if the music is sequenced, is it possible to rip the music in MIDI format?

[Azukara]

The Wii version, yes. It's sequenced. I belive the iDevices versions too. The 360/PS3 versions are proper musics, and are in the ADX format.

According to what I've seen, I believe that the iOS version is also the proper music rather than sequenced. Every song sounds identical to the HD renditions.

[Endri]

Everything you need is here. Just look in the previous pages.

[Trunks]

I belive the iDevices versions too.

Incorrect. It's ADX.

Music files from iPhone version ripped to WAV: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I6RTY39Z

I'm going to remake all the art to be better, remove all the stupid cell shading,

Not to try to steal any thunder here, but I've already done that too. Very quick edit.

This post has been edited by Trunks: 14 October 2010 - 10:41 PM

[Trunks]

With the help of Polygon Jim's Sonic Unleashed texture, I've worked on it to get to this:



I'm aware the ear color isn't quite right. I'll fix that later.

Also note: No green eyes.

[Rockman Zero]

So, Sonic 4: Genesis Edition but minus the Genesis, eh?

I was actually thinking of Sonic 4: Retro Edition.