I want your maps

All done now, as I think TCRF already states, the layouts of the levels themselves match the US GG versions with rings added. So MGHZ3 and APZ3 are unique in that they don't match the master system layout but they still have extra rings compared to US GG. EEZ3 has no extra rings so is identical to US GG.

 

I've finished my first Sonic Chaos map with objects! Took a while due to work out what was going on with the co-ordinates but got there in the end! Yes, those invisible rings really are in those funny positions in the tunnels, it's not a mistake :-)

File:SC SMS THZ1 Objects Map.png - Sonic Retro

 

I've done GTZ2, 3 and GPZ1 now, but also, first Sonic Triple Trouble map with objects!

File:STT GTZ1 Objects Map.png - Sonic Retro

Gotta love the convoluted method at the start to get the rocket shoes in the top left, pogo stick up to 3 invisible platforms (you get one shot at that as Sonic) for rocket shoes that can take you... literally nowhere you can't just reach by hopping onto a tree spring. Hmm...

 

You're doing super with this!

For completion's sake, I would also suggest including the player start locations on your maps (like this map does) as well as a separate objects-only map (example here). That way all the bases are covered

 

You can also reach the invisible platforms with the tree spring at the right of the pogo spring monitor.

 

aha, thank you, so not quite as fiendish as I thought!

 

@BSonirachi unfortunately, it did not occur to me to keep the objects as a separate removeable layer when making these, so object only maps will probably be too much of a pain. On the plus side, I finished GPZ2 and 3 today, GP Zone has the most objects out of any zone, a whopping 62 each, most of them being those pesky placed rings on loops and in the giant pipes.

And yes, starting positions are now in for GPZ. I forgot about that when I started because they aren't objects in the sense that they appear in the object list. Good to have them in though.

 

I never understood the point of such kind of map, though it's worth mentioning that certain graphic editors can perform differences between two given pictures. Therefore, if you have a version of the map without any object (not even hex placeholder) and a version of the map with all the objects, it would be trivial to perform such an operation, I know as a fact that Paint Shop Pro 5 can do it, and I'm sure you all use more modern fancy tools.

You could have watched this video I uploaded in 2020 :U

 

Here's something fun (well 'fun' if Sonic map oddities are your hobby, so all of us right?), there are 3 hidden red springs in Sleeping Egg Zone Act 2 which don't work at all because there's no solid block to stand on to activate them. I'm going to try and mod the level in Aspect Edit to see if they really are 'there'. I've done enough of these now that I'm confident that I'm interpreting the binary correctly. I've put a green box around where each of them should be in the attached map, they're all on the left hand side hence why it's only half a map.

EDIT - it works! Perhaps remnants of an older layout?

 

Strangely, all three of the springs you've marked were fully functional in both Master System prototypes. Wonder what caused them to stop working properly in the final?

 

@BSonirachi that is odd, I can see the logic behind only having springs on a solid surface, a floating invisible spring is a bit immersion breaking, but to put that in so late in the day is interesting.

I did MGHZ this morning, no real surprises except for the mildly interesting little fact that the mud 'splash' effect (when you run through the quick sand/mud) is an object quite separate from the mud itself, you can shift it somewhere else and have mud splash on any surface. I'm a little bit ashamed of my microsoft paint special to represent that object, but I at least wanted something to flag 'there is an object here even if you can't see it'.

 

The only outlier that I could see being an immersion breaker would be the spring in the first screenshot. The other two are in a foreground block that overlaps sprites and in a floating platform respectively, so can still work realistically in those places.

EDIT: I've gone and optimised most of the recent Sonic Chaos maps using the mechanisms from here (the Turquoise Hill maps with objects I've not optimised as they need to have their player start locations). That's brought down the total file size from 7,271,673 bytes to 2,333,964 (6.93 MB to 2.22 MB), a 32% size decrease, to help lighten the load a little.

 

Thanks I'll use that from now on. Could remove the old versions where I didn't put a start point in as well

 

So I haven't given up on this just yet, I got burn out when I was doing aqua planet and realised that just flipping the upward arrow hazard to point down didn't work and they didn't line up properly. I have now uploaded Turquoise Hill with start positions, and used PNGpress on them as suggested. Slightly surprised to see it recommended that you stick all those PNGpress EXE files in System32(!) I kept them in the local folder and they still seemed to do the job.

Just two more zones and the rather simple special stages to go!

 

And finally Aqua Planet is complete after a long break. Only object of interest is an out of bounds set of sneakers on act 1. Act 2 in particular is very sparse, only a couple of monitors in the whole level.

Sonic Chaos/Maps - Sonic Retro

 

Got another invisible hidden spring for you to try on the prototypes @BSonirachi
EEZ2, near the end of the map there's a mine cart that leads into a pit where you're supposed to jump off onto a moving platform. Underneath that platform is a hidden spring (one last chance not to fall to your doom!) which much like before, doesn't work without a solid surface.

 

Quickly fired it up myself, once again it works on the prototype but not on the final version.


EDIT - act 1 and 2 maps uploaded. There's also a cheeky flying enemy hiding behind a solid wall just below the group of 4 in the pipes.

 

The enemy in the solid wall is either being forced down into the open area below by the game or I screwed up the conversion of that coordinate somehow. Either way he shows up in the lower area with the rocket shoes despite what his coordinates might say!

 

Greetings! After many years, I have finally managed to decipher at least the graphical part of the level maps in the PC version of Sonic 3D Blast!

The maps are split into two main layers, which I have named "Floor" and "Decor", each has a separate set of 8x8 tiles and 32x32 chunks associated with it, as well as its own 256-color palette from a list of 8 palettes in each level. The layers are further split up by a priority flag in the chunk data, creating "Low" and "High" sub-layers. The layers and sub-layers are drawn in the following order (bottom to top):

1. Floor Low
2. Decor Low
3. Floor High
4. Decor High

The files in this rip include all 8 of each level's 256-color palettes in ACT format, tile sheets, chunk sheets for both sub-layers and merged, individual layer images split and merged, and a composited full map image. The tile, chunk, and layer images are all using the original color palettes, the full map images cannot because the two layers use different palettes. It's worth noting that the PC version has less colors than the Saturn version, but as the original Saturn palettes still exist in the files, I used those instead of the reduced PC palettes. This should mean that these maps are identical to the Saturn version, but I don't have the files to verify this (if you have both versions, a simple comparison of the MAP and GFX BIN files in each level folder will show if there are any differences).

Without further ado, here are the files!