Sonic Visual Maze (Sonic Hack)

Discussion in 'Showroom' started by Joshwoakes, Dec 14, 2019.

  1. Joshwoakes

    Joshwoakes Active Sonic Hacker Member

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    [​IMG]

    Introduction:

    Sonic Visual Maze (Originally named Sonic 1: Tec Level during early development stages) is a hack of Sonic 1 that focuses on a maze like level inspired by Jester's Challenge and LSD is bad. This level is called "Tec Level" and it is split across 2 acts to which are referred to as Parts 1 and 2.

    Additional Information:

    Extras:

    Although this hack mainly focuses on maze like level layout, there are some easter eggs. Most of which can be found by simply exploring however easter egg stuff is for you figure out on your own.

    Save Game (SRAM)\Pause Menu:

    Unlike with Jester's Challenge and LSD is bad (the two hacks that this hack is inspired by) this hack uses a save feature (sram) to allow you to continue from where you left off, if you happen to not the finish the game and to wish continue later on. The game will auto save when starting a new game, when hitting a checkpoint in level and when triggering special events. However you can save manually at any point by pausing the game and selecting "savepoint" on the pause menu.

    Also the "savepoint" option on the pause menu also acts as a "set checkpoint on demand" feature. Also while the game is paused you can switch in between "PCM", "SMPS" and No Music option(s) for the Music\Soundtrack that you also get when load up the game without any existing save game.


    Screenshots (Hidden In Spoiler Tag):
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Downloads:

    MediaFire Link

    Alternate Link



    Credits Info:


    Credit goes to the people who created tools and the disassembly that was used to create this hack, as well any pre-made assets and/or music found and used in the hack. Also credit goes to people who made the guides on sonic retro that I used while creating this hack. Not to mention the obvious fact that credits also go to Sega and Sonic Team as they are the ones that created the original Sonic The Hedgehog game.
    --------------------------------------------------------
    Edit: Updated download links. As I have patched out the sram issue, so now it should work fine in BlastEm and any other emulators with sram support that the issue may have occurred on.
     
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2019
  2. penPhobic

    penPhobic Everything's all topsy-turvy now. Member

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    I managed to beat this hack for few minutes. Alright, I did reset everytime I'm getting lost. But it was fun.
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2019
  3. RocketRobz

    RocketRobz Coolest of TWL, and Sonic fan Member

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    This is showing a "SRAM ERROR" message on BlastEm.
    blastem_20191214_190545.png
     
  4. Joshwoakes

    Joshwoakes Active Sonic Hacker Member

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    Ah, i was half expecting that someone was going to report the "sram error" message that is a part of the sram fail safe. This is most likely being caused by the emulator, especially as not all emulators have sram support or some emulators handle sram differently to how the game expects.

    You may want to check your emulator settings because if the emulator does have sram support you'll need make it's enabled to allow the game to access sram. If you're still getting the error even after making sure sram is enabled then you can try erasing and resetting sram by holding "A" and "B" before the music selection screen appears. You should then hear the checkpoint sound play as the music selection screen fades in. If doing this doesn't clear the error or it keeps reoccurring then it may be the emulator at fault.
     
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2019
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  5. RocketRobz

    RocketRobz Coolest of TWL, and Sonic fan Member

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    So over at BlastEm's Discord server, the problem is with the specified SRAM size in the header.
    If I change SRAM size from $00200030 to $002003FF, then SRAM works properly, and the message is nowhere to be seen.
    Kega Fusion ignores SRAM size, which is why SRAM works properly there.
     
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  6. Joshwoakes

    Joshwoakes Active Sonic Hacker Member

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    That explains It. I did wonder when I reduced the sram size if it was going to cause problems but when I tested it on kega fusion, gens, regen and bizhawk. It seemingly didn't cause an issue so I just left It without thinking about the fact it could cause issues on other emulators which it did.

    But anyway, I know it isn't a major issue but i decided to update the download links in the main post with patched version of the ROM that fixes the sram size issue.

    Edit: You may have to still do an sram reset when loading up the rom for first time.
     
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2019
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  7. Spanner

    Spanner The Tool Member

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    What a massive difference from the rubbish you used to submit to the Hacking Contest such as White Sonic.
     
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  8. VAdaPEGA

    VAdaPEGA whom belongs the red cat, complaints appreciated Member

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    Hack locks up on a black screen when I tested on Hardware UNLESS I send it directly via USB (Everdrive X7) in which case, there's no SRAM so I suspect there's a problem there (I remember a conversation about this awhile ago, something to do with "even and uneven", but i don't remember the details).
    Also PCM music is very uh... rough on Hardware (MegaPCM?)

    Everything else works fine on Hardware, but here are some things to note that happen on both hardware and Emulator:
    • It says "CONTNUE" when returning to the game after a Soft or Hard reset.
    • you can clip through stuff if you save inside a monitor (even softlock if you're not careful!).
    • The PCM loop on the "LSD is Bad" part is kinda rough, very static-ey
    • Sonic isn't permanently red when 666 rings are collected :v
    • No reward for 999 RINGS :c
     
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  9. Joshwoakes

    Joshwoakes Active Sonic Hacker Member

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    To be honest, I wasn't expecting it work 100% on hardware if at all. Not to mention I wasn't expecting the PCM music to sound great on real hardware which is the first reason why I decided added in the SMPS music for if someone did manage to get this run on real hardware. The second reason for adding SMPS music is being a preference. Also yes I did use the MegaPCM driver although at some point I did consider swapping it out with the Dual PCM but I decided to stick to the MegaPCM to make things easier and then use the Dual PCM in a future hack.

    The "continue" prompt should be only appearing when sram is functioning and if the internal "continue last game" flag is set while loading sram providing the flag was set the last time sram was written to. If it's appearing regardless then obviously something isn't working right.

    I am aware that this can happen as I did think about this and I did experiment with it when adding the save point feature but I don't how work around that without restricting the freedom of being able to save any where. Also i'm pretty sure must people will probably have the sense to avoid saving inside objects or saving right where an enemy spawns.

    This is actually side effect of me cramming it in as a fifth PCM music track while trying to keep the rom size under 4mb as it breaks when it goes above 4mb. I'm guessing the max is size 4mb for sonic 1?
     
  10. Devon

    Devon Down you're going... down you're going... Member

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    The max ROM size for Genesis ROMs without a mapper PERIOD is 4 MB.
     
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  11. VAdaPEGA

    VAdaPEGA whom belongs the red cat, complaints appreciated Member

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    Read again, you missed an I in CONTINUE, it says CONTNUE
     
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  12. Joshwoakes

    Joshwoakes Active Sonic Hacker Member

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    @VAdaPEGA
    Oh... I see. *facepalm* That is a genuine error/mistake on my side that I completely forgot about. Yet another correction of a mistake added to my list of mistakes and things that need to be fixed in a future update. Anyway thank you for pointing that out even If I didn't realize until after re-reading your first message.