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Sonic 4.

Discussion in 'Engineering & Reverse Engineering' started by Polygon Jim, Oct 12, 2010.

  1. Polygon Jim

    Polygon Jim

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    Attempted to put the minecart stage back into the final Wii game, with weird results.


    Very basic stuff done, I'll post updates as I learn more about the formats.



    AMB
    Code (Text):
    1. 0x00 dword = #AMB
    2.  
    3. 0x04 to 0x0F = unknown, seems to be part of the header.
    4.  
    5. 0x10 dword = number of files
    6.  
    7. 0x14 dword = unknown
    8.  
    9. 0x1C dword = address to the filenames
    10.  
    11. 0x20 dword = address to beginning of the first file
    12.  
    13. 0x24 dword = size of file
    14.  
    15. Followed by FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00, then new file start address, and file size, check the dword at 0x10 for amount of files.
    There is some stuff I'm missing in my format spec, but it works to extract most files.



    G_ZONE*/MAP/ZONE*_ATTR.AMB is the collision data, and G_ZONE*/MAP/ZONE**_MAP.AMB is the level layout. There's a decent bit of research into the layout files, but that's not my work so you'll have to wait until the person working on that posts the info.
     
  2. Sparks

    Sparks

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    Sonic 4 Hacking already, awesome. :v:

    Seems you tried to put back the original level map too?
     
  3. Blue Blood

    Blue Blood

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    That's pretty excellent. Now we just need to see the minecart in every other level.
     
  4. Slingerland

    Slingerland

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    I laughed the whole time while watching this video.
     
  5. Mr. Mash

    Mr. Mash

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    Wow, hacking already. Impressive. Though you know what's probably on the tip of everyone's tongue + - Classic physics hack/fix please  
    So does the minecart stage pretty much play itself then?
     
  6. Xkeeper

    Xkeeper

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  7. Solaris Paradox

    Solaris Paradox

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    On my butt in front of the computer. Where else?
    I'm working on working up the willpower to work on learning how to make my own Sonic fangames. Not quite there yet.
    Awesomesauce! I didn't know development on Atomic Sonic 2 was so far along!
     
  8. Sappharad

    Sappharad

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    There are some (useless, but important) omissions from your AMB spec. I use the 32-bit value at 0x04 to determine endian-ness.

    But anyway...
    0x14 - I believe this is the length of filenames in the filename table. Unconfirmed, because it's always 0x20.
    0x18 - Size of header
    0x1C - This can be 0 for files without a filename table. They do exist. Likewise, there can be files without names in the filename table.

    In the file entries. 0x08 is not always FFFFF. I located a few files where it was 0B. I believe it to be an attribute related to the file.
     
  9. MarkoMan

    MarkoMan

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    Polygon Jim, are you trying to phix the physics already? That would be one hell of a proof of concept.
     
  10. The Game Collector

    The Game Collector

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    Check it out, the minecart parts are still in the PS3 version of the game.
     
  11. Azu

    Azu

    I must be stupid. Member
    This pretty awesome. However, I must ask, how did you unpack the WAD file?
     
  12. Rika Chou

    Rika Chou

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    Google for "wad unpacker"?
     
  13. It's not that easy, Rika Chou. We're talking like six levels of compression and whatnot. I hope someone makes an automated exporter/importer.
     
  14. GHNeko

    GHNeko

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    Looking forward to Sonic 4.1 unofficial fan patch.

    Or Super Sonic 4 Turbo.

    Or Super Sonic 4 Champion Ship Turbo+.
     
  15. Cooljerk

    Cooljerk

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    Lol this is simultaneously hilarious and impressive. I tip my hat, Jim.
     
  16. The Game Collector

    The Game Collector

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    So let me get this straight. Does the Wii version not have any minecarts in Lost Labyrinth Act 2 at all, making it different from the PS3 version in level design as well? Or are you guys talking about a minecart only level that was replaced? The reason I ask was because near the end of that stage, I used a minecart and had to jump over a few pits just like in Donkey Kong Country for SNES. It was a pretty short segment though.
     
  17. Afti

    Afti

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  18. Namo

    Namo

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    The Wii version's got the same treatment. There's only a small minecart segment.
     
  19. Cooljerk

    Cooljerk

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    so hey, I was just thinking, since wii hacking is apparently all the rage, would it be possible to stop sonic from uncurling when he hits a ramp? I'm unfamiliar with wii hacking, but I'd imagine it couldn't be too difficult - just change the pointer which changes sonic's state from rolling to flailing back to the rolling state.

    Or am I way off base here?
     
  20. Polygon Jim

    Polygon Jim

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    So you know the ending pose Sonic does?

    http://imgur.com/SwYan.png


    Well while looking through the files I found 2 ending poses I don't remember seeing.


    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]


    I beat the game as Super Sonic, and normal Sonic, and neither of those appeared, it was just that first one both times.