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Sonic Mania: Hacking Discussion

Discussion in 'Engineering & Reverse Engineering' started by Chimera, Aug 29, 2017.

  1. Drex

    Drex

    Lazy perfectionist Member
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    I wont be touching anything hex related, but this tool appears to be just what I need. Thank you, MainMemory.
     
  2. Possibly a stupid question, but I wanted to ask the people who have been making the various tools and everything.

    Given the way that Mania is set up, would it be possible at some point in the future to add levels instead of replacing current ones? From what I've seen, one of the things that messes up custom levels is the transition cutscenes beforehand. If a mod was used that removed those so the levels were just directly one after the other, additional levels could be added pretty much seamlessly. (Also, I think it would be awesome to just slot in a whole bunch of custom levels all at once, and have something like a 50-level marathon Classic-style Sonic game)

    Anyways, is this something that could potentially be done, or does something like the level format or save-file format prevent this?
     
  3. LukyHRE

    LukyHRE

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    Bitching and complaining about my country -.-'
    I would also want to ask, regarding this question, if there's any info in how level transitions work in this game, and if they are somehow hardcoded, or not. Not only it interests me because of the obviously missing transitions most levels have, but also because of the possibility of finding leftovers from deleted transitions; I like to think that every level had transitions, but that somewhere along the final stages of development the zones order got changed, and there was no time to rethink and reimplement them.

    Tbh I would really love a Neo's Sonic Mania Unlocked-esque blog documenting this tidbits :)
     
  4. LajosFace

    LajosFace

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    Sonic & Crash: Dimension Disaster mod for Sonic Mania
    Hello, everyone! This is my first post on Sonic Retro, and sorry if I'm a newbie. So, I have a problem with Maniac Editor: I want to change the title screen to a similar one from Sonic Mania Repainted. But instead, Maniac Editor pops up an error message saying "This scene is not supported (yet)." How can I fix the program or what is the harder way?
     
  5. MainMemory

    MainMemory

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  6. LajosFace

    LajosFace

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    Sonic & Crash: Dimension Disaster mod for Sonic Mania
    Thank you! You are a lifesaver!
    Update: Is there a topic to learn the using of Maniac Editor?
     
  7. MainMemory

    MainMemory

    Kate the Wolf Tech Member
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    I don't think there is. AeroArtwork was going to make a tutorial, but hasn't gotten to it yet.
     
  8. Sonikko

    Sonikko

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    I have been working on adapting Knuckles' Mirage Saloon act 1 layout for Sonic, I need someone to test it, DM me if you're interested!

    EDIT:
    I'm having a strange glitch, after you clear the stage, instead of transitioning to act2, act1 starts over again. No idea what's causing it, does anyone know?

    EDIT2: It has something to do with the level order, can we edit it?

    EDIT3: Deleting the Knuckles act1 node fixed it, but I don't think that's optimal.

    EDIT4: found another fix, act transition now works better. This still makes Knuckles start directly at Act2. Until someone else finds a way to fix this I think this is how it'll work!
    It also breaks the transition to Oil Ocean unfortunately.
     
  9. Sonikko

    Sonikko

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    Sorry for the double post, but the Mirage Saloon Act 1 for Sonic and Tails mod is ready for release.
    https://gamebanana.com/maps/198849
    Let me know if you find anything strange, anything out of place!
    Hope you enjoy~

    It currently breaks the Mirage Saloon cutscenes, and Knuckles no longer has an Act 1, so use it only for Sonic and Tails' campaign.
    I added many new secrets, every pathway is accessible to Sonic and I edited the layout quite a bit to make it feel like a Sonic stage rather than a Knuckles one.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMC0DFECsN0
     
  10. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    So this mod's kinda interesting:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9ZAoTLmeus

    Not only does it give Modern Sonic a boost, but it also doesn't overwrite any of the existing characters in the game. It instead takes over the Sonic & Tails slot, leaving regular Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles alone.

    I wonder how they got that to work? Maybe in the future this will allow for new character slots allowing for multiple character mods to be used at once. Speaking of multiple mods at once, how feasible would it be to allow the mod loader to create like custom level orders for hacks? So say you have an example where you want to play two mods that overwrite Green Hill Zone's slot in one go. Could you assign one of those mods to Green Hill and another to like Chemical plant and play that way? That'd be awesome if it were possible, as some mods that exist at the moment overwrite levels I like and not ones I don't care for as much (FBZ).

    EDIT:

    Ah, it was this guy who figured out the multiple characters, and added even more on top of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles (he also added Mighty, Amy, Metal Sonic, and Modern Sonic into the game, along with separate teams outside of Sonic & Tails)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXWrPEsCaqY
     
  11. ICEknight

    ICEknight

    Researcher Researcher
    Wow, that's really impressive. Maybe the game should get Steam Workshop support when Plus comes...
     
  12. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_hnQ3JI3lU

    What a weird level to port to Mania. The mobile version of Unleashed's Windmill Isle.
     
  13. REPO Man

    REPO Man

    Member
    Gorgeous!

    Please say this is the beginning of a Sonic Mania TC based on Unleashed.

    Personally I liked Unleashed (though Colors is the best 3D Sonic IMHO), save for the Werehog levels.

    But... I could see the Werehog levels adapted into a Ristar hack.
     
  14. Chris Highwind

    Chris Highwind

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    Call me crazy, but...I'm actually looking forward to that mod being finished.
     
  15. Drex

    Drex

    Lazy perfectionist Member
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    The background may be a little ass, but I've always thought that the mobile game had very usable tiles. Almost makes me want create a proper background for it (I'm no background artist, though)
     
  16. TheSillyMoose

    TheSillyMoose

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    As far as Mania hacking goes, I've been wanting to get into it myself, mostly for level creation and character mods. I don't really have any experience in hacking though, so if someone could point me in the direction of a post or a thread that could help me get started, I would really appreciate it!
     
  17. MainMemory

    MainMemory

    Kate the Wolf Tech Member
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    Well, they have a Discord. Other than that, I guess there's some stuff on GameBanana.
     
  18. TheSillyMoose

    TheSillyMoose

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    Gotcha. Thank you!
     
  19. Axanery

    Axanery

    Member
    This is totally possible via editing the gameconfig to add more "nodes". However, we currently don't have that much knowledge about properly editing the level order, so it can cause issues. The 8-bit Sonic 2 Revamped mod uses this method of removing and adding nodes.
     
  20. Oh, I had almost forgotten about having asked that. In that case, mind if I ask a follow-up question?

    Is there a way to end a level without a boss fight? Every video that I've seen that's featured a custom level has had the level end with a refight against one of the bosses, or some sort of custom boss that's just an Eggmobile moving back and forth in a very dangerous arena.

    I was thinking maybe using whatever is used in the Time Trials mode to end the level, but I don't know if those can be used in the main story mode. If we rearranged the bosses to work like Sonic 1 and 2 did, and only have a single boss at the end of each Zone instead of at the end of each Act, even without any additional bosses being made, you could expand the game to quite a few levels without it feeling unnatural and empty.