Sonic and Sega Retro Message Board: SegaLoco - Viewing Profile - Sonic and Sega Retro Message Board

Well, as I was searching for some development software I came across an interesting picture:



This got me thinking, "I have no idea what this is." My knowledge of Sega development hardware is relatively large but I've never seen this beauty before. Now I've already gotten a bit of info from Yakumo over at ASSEMblerGames but I feel a need to turn to Sega Retro with a proposition of mine: Seeing as the wiki and forum are dedicated to all things Sega, isn't it unfare to not have as much documentation of the development hardware as possible as well? I know several good resources for information and documentation and I know that there are some of you out there that know just as much if not more than I. I'd like to extend this proposition to all Sega Retro and Sonic Retro members. I'll get started on things shortly, first documenting the more common pieces of hardware and their included softwares, then I'll get looking into more obscure systems like this baby here. If anyone thinks of anything please do add it to the wiki as well. Also post here on anything you'd like to ask about or clear up, I think this would be a great thing to document as the only other source I know for in-depth knowledge about Sega development hardware is ASSEMblerGames which doesn't exactly present it in the most easy-to-digest format. Many thanks!

I've been wondering this for a little while now: Has there been a breakdown of the SMPS voices/instruments from S1-S3K into common terms such as wave type, envelope settings, etc rather than just raw data in a file. You know, something that would be easily applicable to any synthesizer in some sort of way, detailing the instrument in common words rather than sorting through a data file. Thanks for any information, and if this hasn't been done, I'm willing to sit down with the YM2612 and Z80 manuals, the SMPS wiki page, and my synth and hammer it out, although it may take some time.

Alright, so as you probably guessed, I'll be finding unused data as I go through Sonic CD 510. Here is some stuff I've found in R11A__.MMD:

Lost jumpy pole? (Like in Sonic Advance)


Lost Ball/Chain/Tube thing (No idea what this is actually)


I also found the lost broken button sprite but that is already known so I won't be posting it again.

If anyone knows what these are please let me know, and again, I'll be updating this list as I go along.

Edit: Oh, and I jacked the Sonic 2 palette for these because there are several palette entries in Sonic CD and I didn't know which to use, I figured Sonic 2 could get close enough.

Okay, I'm at a bit of a dead end right now when it comes to getting this Big Ring in Sonic CD 510 to work. If you don't know, the ring is there, shows up in levels, but has absolutely no interaction with Sonic. (Well, it technically does, it just spits him out the other side, it doesn't actually send him to the special stage like one would expect, and it doesn't disappear.) Now anyway, I've isolated the object code and the two or three external subroutines it calls, along with the mapping, animation, and graphical data. Now I'm not expecting any miracles but if anyone would be so kind, could you help me out identifying exactly how to get this object here to do what it is supposed to (well, if it is possible with the code that is there by adding or subtracting a line or two or changing a variable). Also, if you need more context than just everything the object calls, feel free to let me know and I'll upload the idb file (no asm file sorry, I don't feel like taking the time to pick through it and get it split up for an upload until it's fairly well documented.)

Anyway, enough blabbering from me, here is the file: http://www.mediafire...o9ta26a4r8byr3p

Thank you as always for any help and if you help you will definitely be credited!

Edit: If it helps any this code is pretty comparable to Sonic 1 code, the mapping formats match up pretty much exactly and the object code array is just about exactly the same as detailed here: info.sonicretro.org/SCHG:Sonic_the_Hedgehog/RAM_Editing (See "Object Status Table Format")

So I've started back into my Sonic CD disassembly and I've come across a mapping/font layout format and I was wondering if it's been documented/made into a tool/viewer yet. It's used on the Stage Select screen, and for those who don't know what it looks like I'll post a picture at the end. The basic format is:

Table:
    dc.w NumOfEntries
    dc.l AddrToMap1
    dc.l VDPWriteLoc1
...
AddrToMap1:
    dc.b Char1
    dc.b Char2
    dc.b Char3
    dc.b Char4
    dc.b $FF
...

Basically NumOfEntries is the number of options on the select screen. AddrToMap1, AddrToMap2, etc are addresses to the character mapping ($FF terminated) for each line (in the order they are in the nemesis data, I'll post this too). VDPWriteLoc1 is the raw VDP data port write location entry as per the Genesis Technical Overview specification. Anyway, I just wanted to know if this mapping format has been documented yet, and if not, has anyone at least encountered something like it, I want to know if it is an isolated thing or if it has been used by Sega in other games, because that would give me more reason to write an editor/viewer.

The original level select screen:


The font: