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SADX/SA1 Hacking/Modding

Discussion in 'Engineering & Reverse Engineering' started by MainMemory, Aug 15, 2009.

  1. MainMemory

    MainMemory

    Kate the Wolf Tech Member
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    Speaking of SA2 levels, I spent a significant amount of time today finishing up SCHG:Sonic Adventure 2/Level Data Locations, it now contains every level I could think of except Sonic vs. Shadow at the ARK (no geometry), FinalHazard (no geometry), and the Kart levels (couldn't find anything but an empty LandTable).
     
  2. Dr. Mecha

    Dr. Mecha

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    Not how I see it: (pseudo Chao)
    [​IMG]
    Note that I copied the save file from the 2004 version to the 2010 edition, and so far those both read perfectly (with some minor glitches).
     
  3. Turbohog

    Turbohog

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    I just installed a clean copy today and I can't even run split.exe. I've done this plenty of times before, but this time I get this error:
    Is your code referencing the Retro Mercurial database or something? I think I remember one time I was getting similar errors when the old SVN was down.
     
  4. MainMemory

    MainMemory

    Kate the Wolf Tech Member
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    No that's just me pretending this is a community project. I guess I forgot to copy the latest builds of split.exe and build.exe when I updated SAModel.dll. It should work now.

    Also for anyone interested, I finally finished the level data list for the US version of SA1: SCHG:Sonic Adventure/Level Data Locations
     
  5. SF94

    SF94

    Tech Member
    That's a totally different Chao that you're dealing with there. That's a single tone shiny Chaos Chao, and I was showing two-tone and mono-tone shiny children Chao. While the shiny Chaos Chao may still be in tact, it is impossible to obtain it by normal means, because Shiny Chao are—most likely, but not confirmed as—unobtainable via Black Market, and no longer exist in a normal functioning form as is evident by my post above. (It'd be pretty stupid if you could still buy shiny Chao that don't function properly <_<) So basically, you can't get the shiny Chao to make the shiny Chaos Chao with anyway.
     
  6. Turbohog

    Turbohog

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    Haha yep that did the trick. One more thing though, when I ran chrmod splitchrmodels.bat I got "split has stopped working" right after it splits Big's model.
    This is what the debug gave me:
    So I'm guessing the problem is that it was looking for 'C:\Program Files\Sega\SONICADVENTUREDX\system\system\CHRMODELS_data.ini'. Thanks for all your hard work man!
     
  7. MainMemory

    MainMemory

    Kate the Wolf Tech Member
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    hmmm...
    Try replacing splitchrmodels.bat with this:
    Code (Text):
    1. @echo off
    2. cd system
    3. ..\split.exe CHRMODELS.DLL ..\chrmodels.ini
    4. cd ..
     
  8. Turbohog

    Turbohog

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    I guess it was done after Big's model anyway, but that worked...kind of weird. Thanks for the help.
     
  9. MainMemory

    MainMemory

    Kate the Wolf Tech Member
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    Ok, I uploaded a new version of SADXPCTools that should fix the chrmodels issue and any issues with extracting SA2 levels.

    Edit: And another issue with PostBuild.cs
     
  10. Lanzer

    Lanzer

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    So wait, we can import levels from SA2/B now to SADX? thats cool! Would love to see a video of that in action.

     
  11. Turbohog

    Turbohog

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    We can port the landtables, but I don't think there's a way to get the textures to appear since, as MainMemory explained, all LandTables have a texture list pointer and there's also no way to edit the texture lists sizes yet.
     
  12. MainMemory

    MainMemory

    Kate the Wolf Tech Member
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    All SA2 LandTables have both the required texture list pointer which would obviously need editing (which for now must be done manually), and a texture name pointer which will probably have to be removed or change the level's PVM name in the level texture list to match the LandTable.
    Then there's the fact that the PVM's texture list probably doesn't have the same number of textures as the original, and only SADXTweaker can edit that right now, and it may not be compatible with split/build. I'm thinking I'll add something to build to update texture lists by reading the list from a PVM file.
     
  13. Turbohog

    Turbohog

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    Using the python scripts found here, I've been able to extract most of the MLT files(sound effect containers) in the original Sonic Adventure and one of the MLT files in SA2. I edited dsfmake and made some .bat files to make this conversion process a lot smoother. I made a nice little download so you guys can extract them too:
    http://www.mediafire.com/?abtgynxwpb2p2m7

    Note that it's also quite possible for us to make our own MLT files too, using kingshriek's python scripts.
     
  14. Dr. Mecha

    Dr. Mecha

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    Besides the memory editor, I wonder if you guys planning on reintroducing the SA2B machanics back into the Chao Garden (the toys they got from Chao Race and the stuff they learned at Kindergarden). Either that or found any way to further extract the Chao data.
     
  15. MainMemory

    MainMemory

    Kate the Wolf Tech Member
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    Currently, the types of code edits that can be done is rather limited by both the lack of a buildable disassembly and general lack of knowledge of the game, especially the Chao Garden. And I'm not sure what you mean by "further extracting the Chao data"?
     
  16. Is there a way to add in character start positions yet?
     
  17. Dr. Mecha

    Dr. Mecha

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    .....I'm referring to both the Model and the Textures. I'm still stumped why there isn't a SINGLE Chao Model RIPPED FROM THE GARDEN.
     
  18. MainMemory

    MainMemory

    Kate the Wolf Tech Member
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    Commando Beta: with the new tools, it's easy. With the old tools, you have to go through the table manually and replace an unused level.

    Dr. Mecha: I have no idea where the Chao model(s?) are or how they're stored aside from the Egg Chao and Omochao. It is highly likely that there is one basic model (perhaps with no vertex data at all) and it dynamically replaces or generates the vertex data based on the Chao in question. The workings of the Chao Garden are basically one big mystery to me.
     
  19. Thanks. I've thought about fixing certain levels so they're playable with all the appropriate characters, now I know it can be done.
     
  20. Dr. Mecha

    Dr. Mecha

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    Actually there are several chao models based on what they become as an adult. So yeah, you could extract the models DIRECTLY from the .exe itself since that is where the chao data is stored; but like you said, it might be stored as a model format different from the rest of the models in the game.