My script will do that part. I just meant that the faces should be consistent between the frames, that they will be in the same order in the exported file. I think that as long as you just move the vertices for each frame it will be fine. I will probably make that tool today.
anyone know if this patch just removed denuvo yet :specialed: EyeKey, do you mean to say you don't know how the animation format works yet, or is it something weird like moving vertices? Something tells me this game isn't about using joints.
Nope, Denuvo is still there, but didn't seem to be updated. Makes sense though, they are probably just waiting for the refund policy of the protection at this time. Oh, also, is it possible to export the game's 3D models/textures to some other format (OBJ,3ds,FBX) for editing or viewing? I have some ideas for them.
I might as well ask this here too, do you think there is any chance to get Mania running in Windows XP? That's literally the last thing that prevents me from legitimately buying a copy. That and Steam/Denuvo, yeah, but I can still buy a copy to show my support and play a cracked version for ease of use :U
Some talk about the model format and everything I noticed was going on. I made a MaxScript to import the binary model files from the game directly to 3DS Max, though I know there is some mdl2stl converter out there, but this has some use too maybe. You can download my MaxScript here. This script will import the mesh, the vertex colours, and the animation into the timeline. Just hit play to view it. Format is really simple, and making an exporter for it probably won't be hard, but I don't know enough to make one yet. Here's a little run down of the format though: Code (Text): Sonic Mania Meshes //The following is the "header" format for the binary Mesh files. 0x00 str MDL 0x04 int8 Has Vertex Colours //0x01, no colours. 0x05, has colours 0x05 int8 Poly Type //0x03, triangles. 0x04, quads 0x06 int16 Vertex Count 0x08 int16 Frame Count //In file order are the next structures //Colours 0x00 int32 Colour //Format is per byte in BGRA order //Faces 0x00 int16 Face Index Count //Count*2 then divide by the face type (6 for tris, 8 for quads) for face total 0x00 int16 Face Index 0x02 int16 Face Index 0x04 int16 Face Index 0x08 int16 Face Index //This one is only for quads //Vertex //For each frame is a new vertex array 0x00 float Vertex X 0x04 float Vertex Y 0x08 float Vertex Z 0x0C float Normal X //I'm not sure if these are normals, but they are floats 0x10 float Normal Y 0x14 float Normal Z The hardest part would be getting the animations taken care of, but I don't think it's too complicated. I've not looked into it though, so I can't say for certain.
Weird, i could swear they had a policy that said "If the work gets cracked in less than a month, we will refund the price paid on the protection". Oh well... bad for whoever had this idea i guess...
Djohe tried it and was unsuccessful, then he tried installing the MSVC 2017 redist to see if that would fix it and it hung on him. He suggests that you should try it yourself. He also wants you to come on IRC. He tried again, and it didn't work.
Ok the script to convert models to mdl is ready. The command line arguments are: 3d2mdl.py output.bin frame1_model [frame2_model [...]] I am using the library assimp, so it should handle pretty much any popular 3d format. Right now each frame should be in a different model file. And it must have the same number of vertices. My script only handle 3d files with one mesh. It should also support colors. As usual, I packaged it into a binary. And also about the patch, it removed two directories from the rsdk: Data/Sprites/Blueprint and Data/Sprites/SBZ. Here is the list of files that were in them: Spoiler Data/Sprites/Blueprint/BuzzBomber.bin Data/Sprites/Blueprint/CheckerBall.bin Data/Sprites/Blueprint/CircleBumper.bin Data/Sprites/Blueprint/MonkeyDude.bin Data/Sprites/Blueprint/Motobug.bin Data/Sprites/Blueprint/Objects.gif Data/Sprites/Blueprint/Platform.bin Data/Sprites/Blueprint/SpearBlock.bin Data/Sprites/Blueprint/SpringBoard.bin Data/Sprites/Blueprint/TargetBumper.bin Data/Sprites/Blueprint/WallCrawl.bin Data/Sprites/Blueprint/Wisp.bin Data/Sprites/SBZ/BallHog.bin Data/Sprites/SBZ/Bomb.bin Data/Sprites/SBZ/Button.bin Data/Sprites/SBZ/BuzzSaw.bin Data/Sprites/SBZ/CaterKiller.bin Data/Sprites/SBZ/ConveyorWheel.bin Data/Sprites/SBZ/ElectricOrb.bin Data/Sprites/SBZ/Flamethrower.bin Data/Sprites/SBZ/JunctionWheel.bin Data/Sprites/SBZ/Objects-Classic.gif Data/Sprites/SBZ/OneWayDoor.bin Data/Sprites/SBZ/Orbinaut.bin Data/Sprites/SBZ/PistonMachine.bin Data/Sprites/SBZ/Platform.bin Data/Sprites/SBZ/Trapdoor.bin
that sounds fun :specialed: Hmmm a little bizarre up they're outright removing beta content from an update. I spose it's moreso in the interest of optomizing the game and not having any data left in that they legitimately don't need. Like Tax said, the old Blueprint zone stuff was 100% just for engine testing and was slated to be deleted anyway. Hope they don't do this for other unused code though; that'd just be a shame. Is Denuvo what's stopping Mania from being run on Windows XP? I can't imagine anything other than, potentially, DirectX libraries stopping it. There really doesn't seem to be any reason a game optimized to be playable on an *actual saturn* can't run on a previous OS of Windows even YoYo Games' GameMaker programs can run on XP.
All it takes is the programmer using a function that Windows XP doesn't have, and the whole thing won't run on Windows XP, regardless of whether it theoretically could have otherwise. The error message specifically identifies kernel32:GetTickCount64, which sure enough only exists on Vista+. This appears to be used in some code related to Steam, actually. But that probably isn't the only function that's missing, and some of them could be in game code. The SADX Mod Loader is able to run on Windows XP because I specifically use the compiler designed to create Windows XP compatible programs, and avoid any functions that didn't exist in XP. Sonic Mania likely wasn't made with the intention of supporting XP, because why would they? It's not supported by Microsoft, and newer functions may be safer and faster.
I don't mean to rush or push anyone here, but has anyone had any more success at ripping level maps? I'm very interested in seeing the stage layouts and comparing them with the classics. The stage design is so good in so many ways I wish to analyze it indepth same way we can do with the classics.
I spent a lot of time trying to Mania to run on XP. GetTickCount64() merely returns the number of ticks since the computer has booted. It can be replaced with GetTickCount() as the functions are identical until the computer has been running for a month and a half, at which point, GetTickCount will overflow to 0 as it returns a 32-bit value, while GetTickCount64 returns a 64-bit value and thus will not. I have tested this replacement and it works. There are four other kernel functions Mania uses that are incompatible with XP (InitializeCriticalSectionEx, QueryFullProcessImageNameW, and GetModuleFileNameW in kernel32.dll and SHGetKnownFolderPath in shell32.dll) which cannot be easily replaced. It's possible to create stubs for these functions in a file (e.g. kernelxp.dll) and hex edit the game to use that file instead of kernel32.dll, but I didn't want to spend the time to get that working. All these functions are supported on Vista, though, so the game should run on it even though it's below the minimum system requirements (I don't have a Vista system to test with; if someone wants to try it out, I'd love to hear the result). Interestingly enough, when I replaced these functions with others that would obviously not work, the game crashes on Windows 7+. But on XP, Denuvo activates and prevents the game from running. So Denuvo might block Vista as well. Edit: have a level map of Egg Reverie. Object placement outside the fighting area is quite haphazard:
