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Sonic 2 HD

Discussion in 'Fangaming Discussion' started by Canned Karma, Mar 28, 2012.

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  1. Hez

    Hez

    Oldbie
    Wow, you can for sure tell the amount of time spent on this. Look forward to seeing more! If I can do anything to help, I'm 100 percent for it.
     
  2. Dario FF

    Dario FF

    Tech Support Hotline Tech Member
    I'm getting some incredibly long loading times on both 32 and 64 bit versions past the title screen. Been waiting for like two minutes, watching it take almost 100% cpu while at it. Does it usually take that long?

    OS, Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.
     
  3. Canned Karma

    Canned Karma

    S2HD Project Manager Member
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    Sonic 2 HD, various 3D work
    We've had plenty of people telling us that Microsoft Security Essentials is reporting that the .exe is a trojan. Rest assured it's a false positive.

    If anyone is experiencing technical problems with black screens/not loading/etc., please look at the readme PDF we included. It has a list of some basic things we found before release.
     
  4. ashthedragon

    ashthedragon

    Sonic Paradise Researcher
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    Downloading it...is this a DEMO with only a few levels, or a complete game who still needs refinement?
     
  5. Canned Karma

    Canned Karma

    S2HD Project Manager Member
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    Sonic 2 HD, various 3D work
    ashthedragon,
    As we've said before, this is a demo containing EHZ. There are a few extra goodies included as well, but we'd like to let people explore the demo on their own before we say anything else on that.
     
  6. The amount of polish this has is unprecedented for a fangame. It felt...RIGHT. SO RIGHT.

    I ran through it twice, first like I normally would, the second to see some of the more intricate details.

    AND MY GOD THIS IS BEAUTIFUL.

    The little touches like the underground shadows, the little flowers bouncing, the trees moving, it all just makes this POP. Even moreso than the original did.

    Native gamepad support, perfect 60 FPS HD glory, music feels just right, and those extra frames in Sonic's movement really add to the fluidity this demo has.

    Now I understand why this has taken so long. Keep doing it like this. I will wait for it. AS LONG AS IT TAKES.
     
  7. GerbilSoft

    GerbilSoft

    RickRotate'd. Administrator
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    Cannot run either version here:

    - Wine: Shader Model 3.0 isn't supported. (Why exactly is a remake of a 20-year-old game using something that's completely unnecessary?)

    - XP virtual machine: Crashes on startup.

    I'd like to help debug more, but since no debugging symbols are included and the executables and data files are both obfuscated, it appears that this will be impossible.

    Incidentally, that obfuscation is probably what's triggering the false positive. I'd like to point out that obfuscated executables are only used by two groups of programmers: virus writers, DRM developers, and programmers who don't want people to see how bad their code is. Three groups of programmers. (Obfuscated code is never used on super high-end stuff like IBM Rhapsody, which costs thousands of dollars per license.)
     
  8. Guess Who

    Guess Who

    It's a miracle! Oldbie
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    [​IMG]

    By the men who brought you a game based entirely around reverse-engineering another.
     
  9. Volpino

    Volpino

    Things are looking up! Member
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    A secret. >:3
  10. Lobotomy

    Lobotomy

    35% Cognac Banned
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    Artwork and music are fantastic, but the physics need a LOT of work.
     
  11. diplomacydog

    diplomacydog

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    No :(
    \

    but...but...how
     
  12. Saidian

    Saidian

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    Well I guess hell froze over. Yep, was one of those that thought a release would never come, thanks for proving me wrong :)

    Yeh, physics need work, still better than anything else Sonic related I've played in a long while
     
  13. Canned Karma

    Canned Karma

    S2HD Project Manager Member
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    Well, that didn't take long.

    GerbilSoft,
    I guarantee that the code was obfuscated just as you imply very intentionally. Whether or not it was for the reasons you outlined, only one person on the staff knows for certain. I don't have an answer for you on that, and I doubt I will. Bear in mind that I'm not trying to be snarky with you. There were more than a few sacrifices made on our team prior to release to get what you're seeing into your hands, and there are still things the project's leadership isn't happy with. But we made it our priority to have a playable game get out as soon as we possibly could.
     
  14. GerbilSoft

    GerbilSoft

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    It was definitely for reason #2 (DRM), as demonstrated by Guess Who's anti-hacking screenshot. (By the way, no licensing information is included with the S2HD download. The disclaimer screen on startup is not valid, since the S2HD team does not legally own the rights to the engine, since it's based on reverse-engineered code that was definitely not clean-room, and beyond that, Sonic is trademarked.)

    Honestly, this should be taken as an insult by everyone who contributed anything to the reverse-engineering efforts for Sonic 2 for Mega Drive, since it takes without giving back while under the guise of a "community project". I know that you weren't involved with this decision, but that also shows that you're allowing that one person to ruin the entire project for everyone. Poisonous people like this need to be handled responsibly.

    On a sidenote, glibc development nearly ground to a halt due to the poisonous actions of one specific Red Hat developer. (No one who goes here; just not naming names.) He's no longer working at Red Hat, and glibc development has picked up quite a bit: https://lwn.net/Articles/488778/
     
  15. Josh

    Josh

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    I'm rendering a video now, to show those who can't run it.
     
  16. scanline99

    scanline99

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    Thanks for the kind words there Trunks :), it's been a long, long road to get here, but it's nice you can all sit down and enjoy it (albeit briefly).

    Curious to see an example or two of where the layout isn't quite accurate and if this presents a serious issue to a typical playthrough? Not a witch hunt or anything, just would like to know - LOst would certainly be interested to hear back on that one as well as on the physics (which are based on Sonic 3's).
     
  17. Volpino

    Volpino

    Things are looking up! Member
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    A secret. >:3
    Oh god, now I really can't wait for more.

    I hope I didn't expose anything too secret, I just looked in the manual. ;3 I have some feedback regarding
    Tails' sprites though, namely, in the Genesis games, didn't he have a kind of angry-face when he sped up, like in the concept art?
    Also, I really hope that
    he can fly in a later version, it was discussed at one point but it would really enhance the co-op for me so much if he were useful.

    Cannot wait to see the special stages, I was so disappointed when I hit a starpost and nothing happened.

    I just want to say that S2HD was originally why I came to Retro, I originally wanted to join in 2009 but was too afraid that I wasn't mature or good enough at art to be taken seriously, then I joined in 2010 so that I could give feedback, I am really happy you guys pulled something together.
     
  18. Josh

    Josh

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    In my gameplay video you'll see an example of the layout being a little off. There's a ring box on a floating platform in act 2 that I don't _think_ is normally there, or I just spin through it ordinarily.

    The physics do feel slightly off, as well. At one point at the beginning of the game I did a spin dash and tried to jump over the first mini-ramp. I didn't get enough air, which was my fault I believe, but I hit the ramp at a 90-degree angle. My momentum was conserved and I ran off the top of the ramp at full speed. :D

    Nitpicking, of course. This game is absolutely beautiful! As has been said, take all the time you need to achieve this level of quality, and if it comes out for Sonic's 25th anniversary I think everyone will be fine with that.

    EDIT: Yeah, now that I look, that ring box is on a moving floating platform, which I don't think could happen in the original engine. Also, spindashing into the speed-up at the start of act 2 didn't cause me to uncurl like I normally do.
     
  19. Falk

    Falk

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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GCYBX6C3c8


    Some thoughts (of which may be derp-obvious, my apologies in advance if so)

    1) Music is way too loud.
    2) wav? Really? D:
    3) The way alternating sprites are implemented (I.e. rolling/shields/etc) suffers the usual issue of only one set or the other displaying when the framerate is cut in half (as is common with I.e. Youtube encodes of 60FPS games). A workaround is to alternate 1-2-2-1-1-2-2-1-1-etc so that a straight cut in half will still display both sets of sprites.
    4) I still hold the opinion that the remake should re-generate the sounds in a way that is true to the source material, but not limited to sounding like simple FM (which they are). Best example I can think of is Classic Sonic's jump in Generations.
    5) The jingles (invincibility, etc) invoke a short loading pause. No reason this should happen. :(

    edit: To elaborate on 3

    The problem is, for example, sonic's rolling sprites display as ball-curled-ball-curled-ball-curled-ball-curled. When FPS is cut in half, the resultant footage displays ball-ball-ball-ball or curled-curled-curled-curled.
    The workaround is to display 1 frame of ball, 2 frames of curled, 2 frames of ball, 1 frame of curled, 1 frame of ball, 2 frames of curled, 2 frames of ball, etc. Which yields ball-curled-curled-ball-ball-curled-ball-curled-curled-ball-ball-etc. When cut in half, you get ball-curled-ball-curled-curled-ball-etc.

    And no, I'm not trolling.

    edit2: p.s. I can't be the only one who owned myself with the ring monitor. :(
     
  20. DustArma

    DustArma

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    Learning Python.
    It shouldn't be.

    [​IMG]
     
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