[TheInvisibleSun]

Some small updates:



The most important part of this update is that I finally figured out how to load individual groups of colors at a time (within reason)! I finally figured out the proper RAM addresses to load them to; turns out, lines 02 and 03 of each level's palette are located at $FB40, and $FB60, respectively (meaning each line somehow takes up $20, instead of $10 as I thought before).

Probably the last update before the Contest, gonna be on hiatus until May.

This post has been edited by TheInvisibleSun: 14 January 2013 - 06:54 PM

[KingofHarts]

TheInvisibleSun, on 14 January 2013 - 06:51 PM, said:

The most important part of this update is that I finally figured out how to load individual groups of colors at a time (within reason)! I finally figured out the proper RAM addresses to load them to; turns out, lines 02 and 03 of each level's palette are located at $FB40, and $FB60, respectively (meaning each line somehow takes up $20, instead of $10 as I thought before).

Based on this part of your comment, I'm assuming you didn't know why. It's quite simple really... (I apologize if you already DID know, just sounded like you did not.)
As you know, each line has $10 colors. Each color is determined by 2 bytes, so $10*2 is $20. (Example: 0648) Therefore each line in RAM will be $20 bytes.

[Chilly Willy]

When I try to run this on real hardware, all I get is a solid red screen. I tried all the posted versions, and they all do the same thing. It runs in Gens/GS without a hitch. Probably an odd address problem...

[TheInvisibleSun]

Chilly Willy, on 17 January 2013 - 07:42 PM, said:

When I try to run this on real hardware, all I get is a solid red screen. I tried all the posted versions, and they all do the same thing. It runs in Gens/GS without a hitch. Probably an odd address problem...

How unfortunate; I wish I knew what was causing it not to run. I don't know much about running hacks on actual hardware, but it would have been nice to be able to. Thanks a lot for attempting to though!

[Chilly Willy]

TheInvisibleSun, on 18 January 2013 - 07:21 PM, said:

Chilly Willy, on 17 January 2013 - 07:42 PM, said:

When I try to run this on real hardware, all I get is a solid red screen. I tried all the posted versions, and they all do the same thing. It runs in Gens/GS without a hitch. Probably an odd address problem...

How unfortunate; I wish I knew what was causing it not to run. I don't know much about running hacks on actual hardware, but it would have been nice to be able to. Thanks a lot for attempting to though!

I'll run the binary through ReSource and see if I can't spot something easy... odd address or the like. You might consider one of those exception handlers that display the exception encountered. I'm sure I saw a good one posted here in the forum last year.

EDIT: Okay, you have an exception handler in there. The first problem is the checksum is failing. I thought that might be the case... although why you even bother is beyond me.

When I patch out the checksum check at $33A, it gets as far as showing the big SEGA logo in the intro, and then gives an address error: $00073364$00073403

Hope this helps!

This post has been edited by Chilly Willy: 18 January 2013 - 08:24 PM

[MathUser]

Just letting you know, on Genesis GX for Wii, the emulator crashes when you hit a color monitor.

[MathUser]

What's funny about the hack crashing on Genesis Plus GX for the wii is that the author claims the emulator is very accurate with 100 percent compatibility with all games, hardware, special chips, and pirate games. This means your hack probably don't work on real hardware either.

[KingofHarts]

MathUser, on 21 March 2013 - 01:31 AM, said:

What's funny about the hack crashing on Genesis Plus GX for the wii is that the author claims the emulator is very accurate with 100 percent compatibility with all games, hardware, special chips, and pirate games. This means your hack probably don't work on real hardware either.

Chilly Willy, on 17 January 2013 - 07:42 PM, said:

When I try to run this on real hardware, all I get is a solid red screen. I tried all the posted versions, and they all do the same thing. It runs in Gens/GS without a hitch. Probably an odd address problem...

This.
As an aside, Genesis GX is giving different results than actual hardware, as compared to Chilly Willy's posts... I would suggest that perhaps while Genesis GX works well with almost everything, it is not QUITE as accurate as it claims.

This post has been edited by KingofHarts: 21 March 2013 - 08:01 PM

[TheInvisibleSun]

UPDATE:

This new release, contains the following new fixes/features:

• There are now hub-areas, with their own hidden monitors (getting all of them will permanently color the hub stage). Before moving on to the next stage, on must at least get through both stages (Act's 1&3) of the Zone, before moving on to the next one.
  
• There is now an unlock-able extra act for each zone, unlocked and accessed by completing everything in the level.
  
• Invincibility Mappings are fixed.
  
• Robotnik only shows up in Act 3's if one of the monitors are found.
  
• Robotnik takes 12 hits to defeat, if you haven't found every Color Monitor for that stage.
  
• Two more Color Monitors are now implemented.
  
• Ending Music is low-def unless all color monitors in the game are found (I wanted to do the same to the credits music, but it breaks when edited for some reason).

This demo only includes Green Hill Zone, as the layouts for the others aren't finished yet. The Special Stages also have yet to be changed.

Download


I tried to implement Act Sign objects near the act entrances (that change when you %100 said act), but I'm having trouble with getting it to not interfere with other object mappings, so it's glitchy in this demo.

I'll be updating the 1st Page and wiki entry soon.

[TheInvisibleSun]

New Video of Green Hill's Hub, and some of the new layouts for Act 1 and Act 3.



Thoughts on the new build?

[Ravenfreak]

I think the hub level shouldn't have badniks and objects since it's the hub world. xP Other than that I really love the level's names in the background, I like where this is going.

[TheInvisibleSun]

Ravenfreak, on 24 June 2013 - 03:16 PM, said:

I think the hub level shouldn't have badniks and objects since it's the hub world. xP Other than that I really love the level's names in the background, I like where this is going. />/>

Thanks for the feedback! I wasn't exactly sure if enemies, spikes and the like belonged in the hub or not, but I'll probably remove them seeing as they really don't add too much to hubs (though it did feel a bit empty without them).

Also, what do you guys think of the new layouts for GHZ? I'm not that great at level design of this nature, so any constructive feedback on it would be quite helpful.

Speaking of level designs, is anyone interested in designing some layouts for other acts/zones? I'm finding it to be incredibly time-consuming/difficult, so it would help considerably to have someone else on board.

I just noticed that I haven't posted any new screenshots since 2012! So here are some new ones below (they are also on the first post as well):

Spoiler'ed for size:

Spoiler

[KingofHarts]

Quote

Speaking of level designs, is anyone interested in designing some layouts for other acts/zones? I'm finding it to be incredibly time-consuming/difficult, so it would help considerably to have someone else on board.

What kind of things are you looking for in your level design? I could give it a go with one act...
No promises though... it's not my greatest strength either.

[ChaosRinger]

Awesome!
Do you plan on adding monitors/new spheres into the special stages to get a similar effect?

[TheInvisibleSun]

ChaosRinger, on 28 June 2013 - 11:08 PM, said:

Awesome!
Do you plan on adding monitors/new spheres into the special stages to get a similar effect?

I've thought about this before and I might try it out, but its pretty low on the priority list at the moment. In the meantime though, I've implemented an effect that colorizes the cycled palettes once you've passed the ghost blocks (after they change into solid blocks). I might make a video of it another time.

KingofHarts, on 27 June 2013 - 02:22 AM, said:

Quote

Speaking of level designs, is anyone interested in designing some layouts for other acts/zones? I'm finding it to be incredibly time-consuming/difficult, so it would help considerably to have someone else on board.

What kind of things are you looking for in your level design? I could give it a go with one act...
No promises though... it's not my greatest strength either.

Well, just expansive, easily back-trackable stages with a decent range of easy to difficult hiding places for the monitors (but still a with loose point A to point B directionality, since the signpost is still the goal and all). Come to think of it though, it might be difficult to communicate specifically what kind of level design I'd need on a per-act/zone basis (not to mention my customized SonLVL ini files, edited for the extra acts and expanded monitor set), so I might end up doing them myself to avoid any complication. I could PM you with the relevant files, if you want; these would include the SonLVL ini's, and Monitor mapping and Art files, (or my entire disasm, so I can't possibly forget anything useful, like other modded objects), and you can send me back the new and improved layout, object position and start position files (and the new art file(s) for the stage if you draw any new chunks/blocks/tiles. However, I am also looking for someone to do the new special stage layouts, if level design isn't exactly your thing. />

Also, a couple of small updates:

-All Hub Stages are back-trackable to the previous ones (meaning you can travel back to the Green Hill Hub from the one in Marble Zone).

-The clock stops while in the Hubs, to prevent Time Over while in them.

-As mentioned before, some of the colors in the Special Stages return once you pass the 'ghost' blocks.

-"SONIC TEAM PRESENTS" now reads "THEINVISIBLESUN PRESENTS". (X's are now edited to be V's)

-Marble's Hub layout is finished.

-I updated the wiki entry with the new monitor icons, screenshots, the recent Green Hill Zone Demo and updated information. Check it out:

Sonic_1_Color_Contrast

This post has been edited by TheInvisibleSun: 29 June 2013 - 08:19 PM