Spoiler-free Sonic Mania discussion thread

Apparently no current plans for the workshop:
https://twitter.com/RubyEclipse/status/902316454212599808

 

Aww that's a bummer. Oh well, We'll mod it anyway :v:

 

Aaron's tweet (the previous one in the link Casshern posted) at least confirms the PC release is still on track for tomorrow - so there won't be a last minute delay as some feared. Aaron's previous tweet also confirms the PC release will be a newer build compared to the one released on consoles (he mentioned bug fixes).

Approximately 13.5 hours to go! Hoping I'll be awake enough after working tomorrow to play it in the evening/night. Hype!

 

Think that all the console versions will receive said bug fixes?

 

Yeah. His previous tweet that Casshern linked specifically says that the bug fixes will be coming to "consoles" later - so presumably that means every console release.

12 hours and counting! Maybe I should take a break from this thread and just wait until the game actually releases, lol. Still hyped!

 

"Later." Hmm... I was hoping to play the game with bug fixes applied, but "later" might take a while.

 

It's not like the game is super buggy, to be honest.

 

Taxman just tweeted a cool little feature exclusive (for a while) to PC, alongside the bugfixes: https://twitter.com/CFWhitehead/status/902411716872376320

Spoilered just in case:

Spoiler

A separate super button!

Also, the game is Alt-Tab friendly (goes from fullscreen to windowed) and the settings are editable using the game menus, or an .ini file.

 

That makes me pretty happy to know going in. While I might not need to edit the INI in Mania's case, it's nice to have that option. Some PC games, where I'd prefer balanced performance settings for voice chat/playing at the same time, don't have an INI file I can mess with, and that bugs me a lot. (GUI menus don't always give you everything you would want to turn off, or in some cases, on.)

And the article is already dead, that rumor didn't last long. Thanks, Aaron.

I'm not depressed by the news, since it's not like the lack of a workshop stopped Generations modding. The way Steam's workshop works does make mod loading/downloading very convenient, though; sounds like they're open to the idea in the future, at least.

 

We can only hope. Soon: Sonic Mania Heroes?

 

Have to check-out of the thread for now as I've got work to do today but I should return home about an hour or so after Mania releases.

So see you guys on the other side! Evaded all spoilers until now successfully too. It's a miracle. Looking forward to joining the discussion once I've completed the game.

 

My respect to you, sir. I couldn't avoid spoilers myself, but still managed to keep the last segment of the game a secret.

So, when the game releases, we have to post in the other thread? We are gonna sound dumb to all the other console guys :P

 

Hi, does anyone know if Mania will be playable via. the iBuffalo classic usb gamepad?

Thanks.

 

For anyone out there like me that will read the entire discussion in the Mania thread, with the reactions of console players, spoilers have started some pages after this one, I think.

 

I guess the Steam download will become available once the "humble bundle" pre-order sale ends? If so, let the countdown begin!

 

Well done 360, the game will be better for avoiding spoilers, I'm proud of you!

I'll be playing Mania on PC too, so even though I've played it before, we will all be united in our love for Sonic :specialed:

 

Oh shit forgot it was today (again)

Spoilers successfully avoided!

Anyone know what time in the UK?

EDIT: Pre-ordered

 

I guess this is how laymen think optimization works, lol

Let me give you a real world example of optimization that doesn't at all adhere to your definition - architecture-specific morton encoding. Morton encoding is a useful way to project a multi-dimension space onto a single-dimension array to speed collision detection. Morton encoding is done by representing X,Y,Z coordinates in binary, then interleaving their bitfields. The resultant bitstring acts as a z-ordered set that can be used as a map to determine quadrants of the screen where the point resides (quite like balanced octrees).

Morton encoding is a normally expensive process depending on how you achieve it. Nested for loops, for example, will yield an n^2 time. One can optimize this operation by, for example, using a pre-computed look-up table, which approaches N^2logN. Thus, yes, in that specific case, optimization sped up the process on the same hardware. However, the implimentation of a lookup table drastically (by several orders) increases the memory footprint of your program.

However, using processor-specific inline assembly is ALSO optimization. For example, pre-haswell X86 processors and ARM processors have a "multiply no carry" instruction (PCLMULQDQ on X86, vmul_p8 on arm), and a property of multiply no carry is that a value multiplied by itself will result in the original string interleaved by 0's. Bitshifting after multiply no carry and bitmasking can accomplish the same encoding in NlogN time - even faster than a lookup table. But in this case, "optimization" increased the hardware requirements.

And to go a step further, prcoessors with BMI2 instruction sets (read haswell and better processors) have two instructions - Parallel Bit Deposit (PDEP) and Parallel Bit Extract (PEXT) which are built specifically for hardware bit interleaving. Using these instructions, you approach LogN as your run time.

Each one of these optimizations did the exact opposite of what you claimed - they improved performance but required better hardware each time. Which is usually how optimization works - it's about using the hardware available smarter.

TL;DR: your perspective on optimization is all wrong.

 

Ok. Sonic Mania PC is the only version that supports multiple aspect ratios. Think about that and how many bugs that introduced. That could, and probably was, optimized.

 

The fact that you're showing example of optimization which is not connected with lowering system requirements, doesn't mean that what I've written is not correct anymore. Maybe it's working good as eristic tricks for someone, who is not reading carefully whole conversation, but you won't fool me with such tricks - lowering system requirements and better use of resources is repeated in many books representing various aspects of software and hardware.