Random Hack/Mini Project Thread

Well you also realize how limited the Mega Drive, and especially its palette is, so its hard to make believable palette cycle without either hardcoding it, or making the game slow down a lot. Also the cycle is the original, with just palette swapped to account the day/night cycle. There has been some bug where it would reset once in a while, its due to the fader being imperfect, and not stopping when it should, although should only occur rarely from my testing.

 

Messin' around with Sonic 1...

 

Crosspost from SSRG. Didn't know if it was worth posting it here, so I'm posting it in this topic.

It's also worth mentioning that Clownacy made an AS version with a few optimisations. You can try that if you want. Anyway, off to work on more meaningful things.

 

I haven't done anything hacking-related in over one year (the last time being on the same day I released the final version of my old main project, 11th January 2014). Just to get into the business again and enjoy the unknown, I've decided to crack up a little something on Sonic 3 & Knuckles, which I've never worked with before.

So, I present you SSSSSS!

VVVVVV (pronounced as "The letter V six times") is an indie platformer, that, instead of conventional jumping, requires the player to reverse gravity when they're standing on the ground to navigate through the levels. S3K's debug mode has such a feature already implemented, so it was just a matter of changing a few other things to make it feel more like the original game (things like capping gravity, removing HUD, etc).

The game is largely unplayable, as most of the worlds were not intended to have this feature, and S3K is a nightmare to plow through. For that reason, a checkpoint feature was included, which lets you place a hidden checkpoint flag you can manually teleport to at any time. I could probably fix the game to make it properly playable without that, but as the tiny project it is that's all I'm willing to do (and, once again, S3K's disassembly is a jungle).

Play on Death Egg Zone or Flying Battery Zone (or really any stage in a closed space) to get the best experience!

(Quick thanks goes to Varion for sharing a few things to know about S3K.)



Download

Controls

• C: Reverse gravity (while standing on ground)
• B: Make a checkpoint to teleport to when you take damage (if none is set, you die)
• A: Teleport to set checkpoint manually

 

How did you get S3D to run in Win 7 at all? I can only run it with the D3D Windower and when I do that I can't access the menu at all (and I have similar issues trying to get it to run in VirtualBox).

I'm asking mostly because I wanted to get some footage of the special stages and maybe the final fight, and if I can get the menu working that'll make getting to the special stages a lot less time-consuming.

 

Well, that's an old post. Glad someone found it, though.

I'm not entirely sure what your issue is. The thing just runs for me. Stick the CD in the drive, double click on PCSONIC.EXE and it goes. Works fine in WINE too, for the record. It would be helpful if you could tell me what is preventing you from running it without D3DWindower.

 

All I know is that it crashes on startup and trying to reduce the compatibility settings doesn't change that problem, while it runs fine in D3D Windower.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaPL7AW73EI

I wonder what this could be about...

 

It was only a matter of time...
Which reminds me I don't think I've never seen someone make a boss in a hack that's Sonic Advance 2-esque. Is there one?

 

Excellent, excellent stuff. I applaud you good sir.

 

Hmm. I'm pretty much taking a stab at the dark here, but I'm going to guess that it might have something to do with your graphics setup. 3D Blast is an old game; I believe it needs DirectX 5 to run and I'm not entirely certain if super-modern hardware likes that. What graphics card are you using?

Also, I have an idea for a solution: When you are running it in a VM, make sure the VM is set to not use 3D hardware acceleration. If that doesn't work, perhaps try it in an older OS like Win2k or Win9x.

 

WOW! Hah, that is one interesting boss concept, the idea of Robotnik dropping rings is a rather beneficial function, and using springs to force Sonic in the air out of ball mode is a clever idea. Anyways, unique idea is unique, cool stuffs!

 

I've a feeling Markey that you didn't play Runners. Either way it is awesome!

 

Yeah it's like ripped directly from Runners... thanks, though. :v:

 

Either he legit passed by the new mobile release... Or he's just taking the piss outta ya.

 

Whoa now! Hooowwy! I feel just like Jesse James here!

The sheer reality here is, I haven't put money into SEGA's pocket since the 90's, and I shall continue not to do so until they come up with a product to which I am satisfied with. I am, to this date, an unhappy customer who has taken his business elsewhere, so forgive me for not knowing the details of Sonic Runners. I have heard of it mind, but lack of interest and lack of a mobile device meant, I have seen nothing beyond a quick glimpse of advertising. There is also the chance I may have seen it but simply forgot about it due to thin interest.

Everything I said above was an honest opinion with no sarcasm or hidden meaning implied, the excessive use of exclamation marks is simply there to convey my excitement for his work.

 

No problem, I understood what you meant. May as well show off some non-boss stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1avndzdzxAw

Some GHZ1-inspired + Runners-inspired level design. A few custom chunks for good measure. Still got an issue with aligning the level correctly; objects stop spawning at some point for some reason (both probably related issues with simple fixes I'll look at more closely when I finish making level sections); Sonic automatically turns around at a couple of points mainly for testing purposes (although I could find some use for it).

Since you can't do anything except jump, loops can now be jumped through like Runners (although you'll miss out on the rings), and should you not have enough speed to make it around you'll automatically fall through onto the correct path, whichever direction you're running in. Running through monitors automatically smashes them, as though they're capsules. Still questioning whether I should include a double-jump (or triple-jump, like Runners, although I'd prefer the former).

 

Spoiler

DigitalDuck for tech mem-*shot* :v:

Seriously though this is awesome stuff. I wonder how far this can go in terms of implementing aspects from runners. Keep it going!

 

To be fair, Runners has only been released in Japan and Canada at this point (and while there are workarounds, it would require one to know that it has been released and searched for workarounds).

Most games being released for mobile are "free to play" (FTP) games — you can play without paying for as long as you want, but there is the option of buying stuff with real money that would take an ungodly amount of time playing otherwise. Sonic Runners is one such FTP game. If you are curious, DarkspineSonic has a few videos on his channel of Runners gameplay of a few characters.

 

The legitimate way to enable the hidden cheat menu in Sonic 3D Blast PC is to type "bobandkate" before activating the menu as described above. Am I the first to discover that? Probably. You won't find "bobandkate" as string in the exe. The game uses keyboard scan codes and translates those with a table to custom values. That hides the cheat quite effectively.

I wrote my own "compatibility DLL" for Sonic 3D Blast PC, makes the game run perfectly fine in Windows 8.1, with a few extras like music playback from file instead of CD. I hope to release it soon. If you'd like to test it, muteKi, send me a PM.