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Sonic 3 A.I.R. Release Thread

Discussion in 'Fangaming Discussion' started by 360, Apr 7, 2019.

  1. 360

    360

    Light Vision Overdrive Oldbie
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    Sonic Neon
    Excellent post. :) Was also going to add that Eukaryot is probably keeping an eye on the game's feedback particularly since this just released so odds are he has seen this thread or will in the near future - so our feedback might actually help shape the future of the game if he does intend to support this with updates. So it is cool we're all giving impressions and feedback. Could help him.
     
  2. Sappharad

    Sappharad

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    Finally got a chance to play this. It was a pain in the ass to figure out how to get it working in WINE, but it's fully playable via CrossOver on macOS.

    Steps:
    1. In a Windows 7 bottle, install Microsoft XML Parser 3 via CrossOver installer or Winetricks.
    2. Switch the bottle type to Windows 10 in Wine config. You NEED to do this or the VC++ redistributable install will fail at the end complaining about a missing Windows update service.
    3. Install the VC++ redist included in the 'install' folder.
    3a. Switch bottle back to Windows 7 if you want to, or were using it for other things.
    4. Launch the game. Game will crash.
    5. Open the Bottle's C: drive, navigate to C:\Users\crossover\Application Data\Sonic3AIR\. Open settings.json and set failsafe mode to true.
    6. Launch game again. Game should work now.

    Author says on Twitter that there won't be native versions for other platforms, but I'm not sure why. It appears to be using SDL2 and GL which is portable. If he ever decides to open source it, I can do a macOS port.
     
  3. nineko

    nineko

    I am the Holy Cat Tech Member
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    That can be arranged :U
     
  4. 360

    360

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    Sonic Neon
    Fucking awesome of you dude! So cool of you to do that. Thanks so much. :)
     
  5. RikohZX

    RikohZX

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    Being a program that uses an uncompressed (but legal) rom for data basis, wouldn't it technically be able to use Sonic 3 Complete if it was tweaked enough for that? Granted that's a different story given how the distribution and factors involving S3C work, which would circumvent the legal method of playing this.

    Not to undermine the effort of the project itself, mind you. This is pretty much aces, and a way better way to play than through emulation, hands down.
     
  6. Sparks

    Sparks

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    Sondro Gomez / Kyle & Lucy
    A veeery minor and pretty petty complaint, but I wish some of the effects like the text shadows and speed blur would look more authentic to the aesthetic of the game. Other than that, I'm having a great fun with all this. It brings a fresh coat of paint to Sonic 3K! Is there any specific page or log that details all the level design changes? I know they had a Twitter post about the Death Egg Act 1 changes, but a full log of the updates would be nice if there's one somewhere that I'm missing.
     
  7. Covarr

    Covarr

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    Trapped in my own thoughts.
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    This would be best if it weren't enabled by default. As-it, it was totally unexpected; prior familiarity with the original game should not be a hazard.
     
  8. muteKi

    muteKi

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    If it's feasible (I would assume not being so limited to the original hardware makes this a bit easier), it would be really cool to see the addition of a few more save slots. I'd love to have 9 if only to have one of all 3 endings for all 3 characters.
    I'd also appreciate it if the Sonic 3 miniboss could be used for the Knuckles battle when the Sonic 3 miniboss music is set; this seems like it wouldn't be too hard to do.

    Like I think other people will suggest, I'd love to see feature parity with Sonic 3 Complete eventually.
     
  9. almeda

    almeda

    you are now watching madTV. Member
    Thank you so much!! I'm using a Mac so the other day I downloaded it then realised I can't actually play it lol. This helped a lot.

    Also I noticed when emulating the game, SFX like when you collect a ring overlaps and stops some other sounds when playing, which is really annoying when playing Sky Sanctuary Zone. I'm glad this can help stop that.

    Here's what am talking about btw. Wait until Sonic gets a ring. Part of it starts and stops when he gets a ring and it's always been so annoying. I'm so glad that this port will help resolve that issue.

     
  10. RDNexus

    RDNexus

    Member
    Excuse me for going a bit off-topic, but... Is there no chance or way for anyone to port Sonic1&2 Taxman Version to PC?
     
  11. muteKi

    muteKi

    Fuck it Member
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    Some glitches that occurred for me on this game. I think the first one is actually something that happens on the original game but I think the other two are odd and specific to this port:

    - Hit a flybot while going through one of the weird chute-like things (this is the one above a spring and flame shield not too far from the start of the level) and got stuck in the wall next to it.
    - Around where the 8 is on this map I flew up as tails along the wall and got crushed by...something (probably one of those kill-collision objects placed below the stopper? the stopper was fully up)
    - The hand in Lava Reef was able to push Hyper Tails into the floor. Didn't kill him, oddly, just put him into that zipping collision state.

    I also noticed that the erroneous palette was being applied to the leftmost super emerald when exiting a special stage (definitely consistent with the original game though). It might be nice to fix that up -- and also possibly shift the camera left and right for the farthest emeralds, since the new aspect ratio reveals a lot more of the stage when they're centered (after completing a special stage).
    There's also the palette issues with Super/Hyper Tails and the (glowing) Master Emerald in the ending sequence for Sonic/Tails. Since the palettes aren't as constrained to the hardware it might be nice to see those taken care of as well, but I imagine this is less than trivial since the data is all set up already.
     
  12. almeda

    almeda

    you are now watching madTV. Member
    I don't think so. You could try running Android x86 for it but I don't know if that works. Sorry :(

    You're right though...It's strange that they're not available on other platforms except for CD.
     
  13. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvvUxf7lqmI
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMp79somOUU

    Someone has managed to edit save files a bit to allow for Knuckles and Tails to play in the Doomsday zone. Unlike S3K vanilla their sprites actually aren't screwed up to all hell... except Knuckles' sprites during the credits sequence though that gets a little weird.

    Tails though appears to work in Doomsday zone almost flawlessly.
     
  14. Heh, those issues were also fixed in Sonic 3 Complete. They even made it so Knuckles doesn't run in space. Tails rings aren't going down at all though, so he can get a 1up, which is normally impossible. Still pretty neat.

    I still need to play this, looks very polished.
     
  15. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    Ah, I didn't notice the Tails no ring drain bug. That being said though if you're quick enough and know what route to take you can definitely get a 1up in Doomsday. I've done it a few times at least.
     
  16. Hez

    Hez

    Oldbie
    Man this is just great. I'm curious as to how this was developed? Could you theoretically use S3k's engine now, to import Sonic 1 and 2's levels? Make it one continuous game? That, would be so kick ass.
     
  17. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    I too am curious to see what the modding potential of this is. Seeing as how this is a fan project it may open even more possibilities to modding than Mania does.
     
  18. Eukaryot

    Eukaryot

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    Sonic 3 A.I.R.
    Hey everyone!

    I guess it's about time for me to join the conversation - and by the way make my first post ever here in the forums.
    I've actually planned to create a forum thread for Sonic 3 A.I.R. as soon as the game was released, but that was kind of a dumb idea in hindsight, as I'm only now finding some time to get in touch with you guys right here. So nevermind. :D

    First I have to say that all bug reports are indeed welcome! Not only for the S3AIR-specific bugs, but also regarding original game bugs (at least the more severe ones). Development on S3AIR is now going into a longer bugfixing phase, so I'm happily gathering everything there is to do. Including all issues you mentioned here so far!

    In that regard, I also want to mention a functionality in the game that allows you to produce a recording of your last 30 seconds of gameplay. If you encounter a weird bug, press F2 and you get a "gamerecording.bin" file. It would be nice if you can send this to me, as it's usually really helpful for debugging, especially when it comes to hard-to-reproduce bugs.

    Another thing I want to state right away is that development on S3AIR is indeed going to be continued. For the moment, my focus is on bug fixing, but there are also new features I'd like to add to the game. But please better don't ask what exactly, because I'm usually announcing new features only when they are at least halfway done and I can be sure that I won't make any false promises.

    However, there are a few things that I'm sure should be doable in the next updates:
    - More tweaking, including minor A.I.R. level layout changes where it seems appropriate
    - A few more achievements
    - A controller config menu
    - More modding support, including sprite replacement (though that might be limited to original S3&K palettes)

    That's it for the moment. I'm regularly stopping by here in the forums, so if there's something you want to know, or any questions, just post them. :)
     
  19. 360

    360

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    Sonic Neon
    Yeah this is an excellent point - hopefully the developer will support this officially with new versions and so on - but potentially beyond that we could mod it to hell and back to make it even better (incorporating Sonic 3 Complete features and so on) with an amazing engine and very strong existing foundation to build upon. Then there's the potential of Sonic 1 and 2. It'd be amazing if that happens.

    EDIT: Eukaryot's here! Welcome to Sonic Retro. :) You created an excellent and astonishingly good project, one of the best remasters ever, we all love it, and it's beyond awesome you want to continue support for the game with future updates and versions. Thanks so much for being here and posting with us!
     
  20. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    Welcome to the forums Eukaryot! This is a fine thing you've given us and I definitely appreciate all the work you put into this. Now we finally have a modern way to play S3K after all these years. I look forward to seeing what else you have in store for this game/mod/remaster/idk really how to describe what this is lol.

    Random question. I get most of the layout changes but what was the point of the layout change at the beginning of Carnival Night Zone Act 2? It's fine of course I just never considered that section in need of fixing.