Im sure he can, but exceding the 4mb limit is a bad idea. It would not even work on emulators, someone would have to modify these to allow that much data.
This is pretty neat. Is there any way to return to the game select menu after you already stared a game?
Since most ppl don't own flashcards or eeproms or whatever, they will be playing this on emulators. Fusion is the only great emulator by today's standards but modifying is not possible because it's not open source. I really don't want to have to get old Gens out of the closet again to play a hack. Better to stay under that limit then.
Mhm, godspeed. I'll look forward to seeing what you can pull off. I know another member here was working on a "S3 Edition" of Sonic 2, but I don't know how far he got with it.
If he can make it perform Super Street Fighter II style bank switching inside 5 megabytes and make it work on my Everdrive, he's got my vote.
Even if it won't end up working on emulators, that would precisely give the emu authors a reason to upgrade them, so it's a win-win situation.
The Mega Drive memory map only gives you 4MB for cartridge space. You can go up to 10MB before hitting the Z80 memory access area (and thus the start of the system registers, which are followed by RAM and its mirrors), but if you have a Sega CD connected, you lose everything between 4MB and 8MB, and if you have a 32X, everything between 8MB and 10MB (or I think; not sure). Most, if not all, emulators hardcode the SSFII mapper to only work with SSFII. One possible idea is to just make all three games run on the same base code (I think they already all use the same sound driver; not entirely sure) — all three games will use the same engine and what not. IDK how well this will work out for S3K's level system, but :/
1. I had this idea, but refused it because I don't know how to perform such a scene. If Sonic would run quickly from left to right (like in Sonic 2), the logo spinning vertically after his touch would look strange. It would be obviously better to make it spin just like a signpost, but the hardware isn't capable to do it even using VDP-tricks, I would have either to render it by software (like I do in menu, but I hardly find enough resources for that) or keep each spinning frame pre-rendered in the ROM (which will take too much ROM space). Another way I imagine this scene is Sonic falls from the top and touches the logo, then he lands and runs away. But again, I have no idea how to perform it gracefully. 2. Nice idea, I might try it. Or make a separate screen with project's logo. The name doesn't make much sense here though, it's a compilation, not an original game/hack. Also, I'm likely to change its title when I include more games there. 3. Do you mean the new music composed specially for this project? Well, I don't think if I need this, in fact I'm rather content with the current music, which Jet ported for me. I may replace it with more suitable ports if I find ones. 4. "C - Credits" will stay absolutely alone then =( An extra button to launch a game isn't odd or confusing to my mind. Nice article, thank you! =) Just a small note: you wrote "Sonic 3 in 1 is a compilation hack" there. My project isn't really a hack (this is the reason I call it a 'project' =P). It's more like a MD-program from the ground up, including three hacked Sonic games and a small engine to run them. Or I just understood the phrase "compilation hack" wrongly. My English is weak, you know. I will have troubles with adding them. Not all the games have their disassemblies, this makes adding them really difficult. I'll have to fix every JMP/JSR offsets, (xxx).w and (xxx).l addressing modes, DMA-transfers from ROM, and besides that, there are loads of special cases which are hard to recognize. I may attempt to do it to practice in HEX-hacking, but chances I fully success are low. Yep, I plan use SSF2 bank switching. Thanks to Sik who provided me info on it earlier, I know how to work with it. If I cut the paddings of the games, it will be possible to fit it in 5 Megabytes I think.
I don't think it would look strange... Think of it like it's one of those pinball thingies that start spinning once the ball passes through them. Like this one: Well... I meant anything that's not from other franchises. It's just odd listening to non-Sonic music in a Sonic compilation, as nice as they sound they don't seem to belong in there. You can change "A - Play" to "START - Play"... I just don't see why anybody would rather press "A" of all buttons over one that's labeled "START", that is all. =|
Ah, that's what you meant. Personally, I like to choose music by its style, not franchise. I thought a song from Gunstar Heroes is the best choice for my menu. By the way, in beta of this project, there was Music 77 from Megaman: The Wily Wars instead. Few times I was suggested to use some S2/S3 tracks used in their menus, but I found them not really fitting. Maybe, I have a bad music taste. Actually, I like to press A button a lot =P My button legend really can be misleading a bit, but I only don't want to touch it, because it seems so beautiful and harmonic with other elements now, that I'm afraid any single change like this will spoil it. EDIT: Oh, yes, definitely. I forgot about it. I will do my best to fix known bugs in the games. Please, remember me about other bugs I've missed.
Unless you get it running on a real cartridge that gets distributed around, nobody will bother. I mean, not even the Everdrive is emulated even though the hardware is documented and there's homebrew that uses Everdrive-specific hardware (SD card access, more specifically). Definitely not Fusion, which enables the mapper whenever a game makes uses of the ports. It also emulates all pages, although it only supports up to 12 banks (6MB).
I find this somewhat interesting... as it is similar to a fangame project I'm working on (Sonic Trilogy: Enhanced). Mine will not be limited by restrictions of Emulators and ROMS, and it will have many more features... downside, is that it needs to be coded correctly from scratch. If you, or anyone would be interested in assisting with the physics engine, I'd be more than happy for the help.
this hack made me smile It's awesome! Well done making the first ever fan-made Sonic Compilation! The intro really surprised me, as-well as the game selection screen! :o Very nostalgic! On Gens 2.14, There's a bug I got when choosing Sonic 2. I was playing through Emerald Hill Zone to Chemical Zone and at Act 2 the title-screen froze. Disregard, this happens on some other hacks. Probably the emulator is outdated. Never thought putting 3 games would work considering MegaDrive limitations. Well done!
To provide my input on the menu music... some hacks/fangames (including mine) use the evening time music from Knuckles Chaotix that plays in the HUB (also the music in the HUB on Sonic 1 SAGE 2010 Edition). I personally love that track... I dunno about everyone else, but it is a favorite of mine.
I think the Gunstar Heroes track is just fine, I really like it. But if vladik desides to go with a tune from Sonic after all, I'd either go with the Sonic 2 options music or the Sonic 3 file select music. Or maybe the competition theme.
There's a list of of some bugs with bugfixes found in this topic: http://forums.sonicr...opic=25273&st=0
