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Sonic Generations Hacking (and More!)

Discussion in 'Engineering & Reverse Engineering' started by Andrew75, Jun 23, 2011.

  1. JaxTH

    JaxTH

    Pudding Deity Oldbie
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    Jack shit.
    What's up with that Sky Sanctuary death trap?
     
  2. Way back when the stage was ported over Sky Sanctuary Zone, I tried out the rolling floor since I was still new to stage designing. When I placed it, it fit perfectly, so I decided to keep it.

    Is there something wrong with it? Should it be replaced with something else?
     
  3. Falk

    Falk

    Member
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    Only thing I'd say is that the milder texture clashes with the overly-contrasted (in comparison) look of the original SA textures. Thematically I think it kinda fits.
     
  4. SonikkuForever

    SonikkuForever

    Be cool, be wild, and be groovy! Member
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    Gathering information on Sega World Sydney and collecting Sonic merchandise.
    Not sure if this is the best place to post this question, but how on earth do you face-pose the Classic models in 3D Studio max, Blender, fragmotion, etc.? I'm trying to give Classic Sonic and Tails open-mouth smiles like in their old Japanese artwork and can't figure it out for the life of me.
     
  5. Glaber

    Glaber

    Has Beaten Sonic Genesis for GBA Oldbie
    in your case, you have to do it manually. Vertex by vertex.

    That is, unless the models have their vertex animations intact.
     
  6. Joe T.E.

    Joe T.E.

    All life form data, successfully copied! Member
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    At my home in Florida
    Big the Cat in Sonic Generations, High-Res HUD for Sonic Lost World, Metal Sonic Lost World (Version 1.0,) Sonic Generations: Episode Metal (Version 3.0.)
    I saw that topic you made in the Technical Discussion forums. You mentioned that you got the model from the Models Resource.
    I haven't looked at the Sonic Generations models on the Models Resource, so I wouldn't know if the models on that site are accurate or not.

    Since I can load the proper models using the .model importing script for 3DS Max, I can try to help you out.


    Does the Classic Sonic model you have include the following bones?
    mesh_mouth
    Mouth_Side
    Lip
    Teeth_Up
    Lip_L
    Lip_R
    Jaw
    Teeth_Low

    If those bones are present (and if their positions aren't locked), you should be able to move those bones to make different poses for the "right side" mouth.
    mesh_mouth moves the entire mouth object, Mouth_Side is a visibility bone, and the rest manipulate the position of the lips, teeth, etc.

    Bones of similar name (but with an _02 at the end) do the same for the "left side" mouth.

    If the model you have also includes the two centered mouths, either delete those parts of the model, or use the Mouth_Center and mesh_mouth_dead2 bones to move them out of the way (Unless the pose you want to make utilizes one of those two, in which case, hide the mouths not being used.)


    For Classic Tails, use the following bones to alter his mouth:
    Lip_top_C
    Lip_top_side_L
    Lip_top_side_R
    Lip_btm_C

    Lip_btm_side_L
    Lip_btm_side_R
    UpperJaw
    UnderJaw

    UpperJaw doesn't do much, Underjaw moves his tongue a bit, and the rest move the specified portion of the mouth



    If the models you got from the Models Resource lacks those bones, then things will be a LOT more difficult...
     
  7. Dario FF

    Dario FF

    Tech Support Hotline Tech Member
    I haven't done much info posts on this thread for a while, have just been posting videos and a few answers. Seeing we're on the Page #200, I see it's appropiate to sum up what's the situation on various things.

    SonicGLvl hasn't had ANY updates for quite a while, but it's not a dead project, far from it. The problem is the editor spawned as just my first experiment into learning various things, and it was simply arranged from the start to be a simple XML layout editor. As developing my mod went forward, I had to make a lot of updates to it. It's eventually grown into having a lot of features, separated in weird ways, dodgy GUI coding(completely rewritten from an Ogre alternative if you remember instead of using native Windows GUI), and lots of ugly hacks everywhere. Since research on formats, and developing the necessary stuff for it went so fast, it eventually grew into quite a large beast of features. But almost half of those features don't make any sense in how they're implemented. It did its job regardless, since I feel it's important to take the initiative first and restructure it if necessary later on.

    This is why I have another goal already that I've been working on. I'm not going to force anyone to use SonicGLvl for accessing the game's formats. Instead, I'm developing a stand-alone library that should handle all of the game's formats already researched on its own, easily accessible with their own routines. With that, it will be much, MUCH easier to make SonicGLvl a tool that doesn't actually DEPEND on Ogre for most stuff, but rather a visual interface to this library for the regular user. Anybody should be able to code their own editor the same way, and both applications will be open source.

    In summary, I'm rewriting the whole thing so it's much easier to work with it and extend it on the long run. It's going to keep the same database system we've already been using for templates and such, it's just going to be split into different modules for easier organization... think of it like what MM did for the Archive Editor, but instead for most of the formats SonicGLvl handles.

    What we have so far cracked. For anyone interested, what we can do so far with the game is:
    • Complete Custom Level Edition, including GI
    • Custom Animations and Physics for Objects
    • Complete Model Importing, with Skeleton Support
    • Basic LUA scripting for handling Game Progression/Fast Booting/etc, but nothing beyond just changing game scenes and a few triggers.
    • Semi-working alternate renderer found in the exe, with support for directional shadows/light shafts/higher res bloom/blur, etc.

    Most of this stuff is already enough for doing some custom levels and such, but not enough for those who want to go the extra mile further. Some of the stuff I would like to take a crack on, but haven't been able to figure out are:
    • Custom Particle Emitters, Particle Materials(.gte and .gtm) files
    • Lightfields, the data that controls the illumination of various sections of the map into the objects(like the color reflections onto Sonic). While the idea and format of it is very easy to crack, I have no idea how the data is organized and represented ingame. If there was a way to enable the debug visual mode Sega showed in their GDC panel, it would be much easier to understand it.
    • Visibility Tree, the data that controls what objects to show/hide depending on the area the camera's currently in, allowing some very good optimization most of the time. It's in the same situation as light-field, I have no idea how the data is organized, but the file format itself is cracked.
    • uv-anim, controls dynamic textures that can move in a stage. Haven't bothered with it yet as I haven't needed it, but it will certainly help doing a lot of effects on custom levels.
    • cam-anim, similar to uv-anim, but just for Starting Stage cameras/cutscenes.

    If anyone's interested in checking those out, please do, as I likely won't bother for now til I finish the Unleashed porting. Regarding that project, it's going fairly well, although progress has slowed down lately due to being a very busy time of the year. Empire City's layout is almost finished, so that leaves 2 more stages to work on. Apart from that, next comes working on the HUB and Level Progression(it'll be very linear and modern Sonic only), and finally beta-testing and bug fixing. The first version will just be the 8 daytime levels with the HUB, and it'll be very quick to complete, but lots of potential to just replay your favorite stages over and over.

    I would like to get most of this stuff out of the door before the time the next main Sonic game comes and most of this doesn't seem as interesting anymore, so I won't go into much work if it's becoming irrelevant later on. The stuff on the above list should be the ideal things to get done so we can leave this game sorted out for plenty of extra playable content. :)

    Oh and you might want to pick up Gens on PC if you haven't yet 50% off today, unless it goes on daily deal later on, even if you don't have a PC that can handle the game yet. You should be able to play a lot of extra content by then. ;)
     
  8. I don't mean to be that guy, but any word on a new Unleashed mod release? I'm itching to try it.

    Please don't take it the wrong way, I would just love to try my hand at your sweet work.
     
  9. S0LV0

    S0LV0

    Sonic Generations Helpdesk Tech Member
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    Abusing SMPS
    They've said multiple times that Dragon Road would be the only demo release until the project is complete.
     
  10. Dario FF

    Dario FF

    Tech Support Hotline Tech Member
    As soon as it's possible. We've got 2 more levels to do, and a HUB. I can't estimate how long it'll take sadly, depends if nothing comes up as an issue.

    Also, here's a new video:


    Yes, there had to be quite a few layout changes since it was either impossible to recreate or it just didn't fit in the game, but I believe most of you will be fine with them.
     
  11. MykonosFan

    MykonosFan

    MODE CHANGE. Moderator
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    Love what you did with the first part of the bridge, and that new camera angle on that rail near on the end is nice. The former part could easily make that my preferred Skyscraper Scamper.
     
  12. Dario, you're the best. I'm excited, do you think we'll see a Christmas release? I won't hold you to it if you say yes, but I mean is there a projected yes?
     
  13. Azu

    Azu

    I must be stupid. Member
    When this all said and done, you guys gotta do more tutorials on making stages, splines, camera, etc.
     
  14. Dario FF

    Dario FF

    Tech Support Hotline Tech Member
    I'm afraid making two more stages, an entire HUB, and beta-testing are really quite hard to fit into a single month. Even if everything went along smoothly with no issues that come up(which likely will with my luck), I doubt we would be able to reach that date.

    Of course, but I guess you'd all prefer I do this after all I've learned from making these levels, as well as my various tricks to make gimmicks. :v:
     
  15. Faseeh

    Faseeh

    Member
    That was glorious Dario! The alternative to the Big Chaser was great.

    And the camera you added for the long rail was not bad. Could be a little more close to Sonic of course!

    I'd love tutorials too!
     
  16. Jason

    Jason

    *Results not lab tested. Member
    I'm right with everyone else on a set of first-hand tutorials.

    Also, for Egg Pawn ideas in Skyscraper Scamper, they need to throw pastrami on rye like the Savanna Citadel ones with their weapons. Nothing else will suffice.
     
  17. Lanzer

    Lanzer

    The saber calls for its master... Member
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    Living life.
    SS is based on New York right? just think of some New York clichés that would work well with the eggpawns.
     
  18. Chris Highwind

    Chris Highwind

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    Slacking
    I don't really see a release for 2012, myself, seeing as, as you said, all that stuff is hard to fit into a single month. I'd probably make a guess as to maybe...eh, January at the earliest, and that's if you devote a month each to the remaining stages and their stuff, but a more realistic goal would probably be about...February? Spring-ish? Either way, it's best if you take your time :thumbsup:

    Also, about the gimmicks, might I suggest something? I remember seeing someone making a port of Flame Core from 06, and while he's got a ways to go, there was a thing he did to simulate the rock-jumping that I found pretty ingenious, in that he'd put a walljump panel right underneath a spring, so when you got to the rock, you'd land on the panel, and when you jumped off the panel, the spring would launch Sonic to the next rock/ground/platform. I know Unleashed had some super wall-jumping QTE's that you could probably simulate using the panel/spring method, especially if you could make the spring invisible like you can the wall-jump panel.

    Also, the Egg pawn enemies? Three words (four if you count "and")

    "Baseball" "jerseys" "and" "caps"
     
  19. Tyty

    Tyty

    KNUXEDO KAMEN Member
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    That's looking amazing. I love the bright coat of paint the renderer/shader combo puts on these Unleashed levels. They felt kinda dull and washed out to me in their actual game. I can't wait to see a more finalized cool edge.

    When I think jazzy music and new york, I think mobsters, so all the Egg Fighters should have fedoras and tommy guns, even if they don't shoot.
     
  20. Rosie

    Rosie

    aka Rosie Member
    The Egg Pawns all need hotdogs, that would be awesome.