Basic Questions and Answers Thread

^ http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=26622&view=findpost&p=627267


There are other Genesis drivers which allow you to use all the 4 PSG channels, though. Cube, for example.

 

Is there a way to remove the time limit in Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3 (alone and S3K), and Sonic and Knuckles alone?

 

It depends on the intended behaviour you're looking for. Removing the time limit per se is very simple in Sonic 1, it's all within two lines:

Code:

cmpi.l	#$93B3B,(a1)+	; is the time 9.59?
beq.s	TimeOver	; if yes, branch

Remove (or comment) those two lines, and the time limit is gone. However, the timer on the HUD would keep on counting and just roll back from 9:59 to 9:00, because of those lines:

Code:

cmpi.b	#9,(a1)
bcs.s	loc_1C734
move.b	#9,(a1)

. At that point, you have various options to think about:

• set up a second digit in the minute counter, but at 99:59 you'd have the same problem so you might as well set the time limit to that new value (it's more than one hour and a half, anyway);
• disable the timer altogether and remove it from the HUD; once again, this isn't hard to do per se, but it comes with an implication: you'd have to take care of the time bonus at the end of the acts, too;
• make the timer freeze when it reaches 9:59 or something; in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, however, this would lead to the player always being given 100000 points of time bonus, unless you alter that behaviour too;
• all of the above. Wait, what :U

edit: the CODE tag is being stupid, assume there are a couple of tabulations at the beginning of those lines.

 

OK, this is word_72790:




word_72790:dc.w $15E, $184, $1AB, $1D1, $1FE, $11D, $15C, $18F, $1C5 ;
dc.w $1FF, $11C, $17C, $15E, $181, $111, $1D1, $1FE, $11D
dc.w $25E, $284, $2AB, $2D3, $2FE, $32D, $35C, $38F, $3C5
dc.w $3FF, $43C, $47C, $A5E, $A84, $AAB, $AD3, $AFE, $B2D
dc.w $B5C, $B8F, $BC5, $BFF, $C3C, $C7C, $125E, $1284
dc.w $12AB, $12D3, $12FE, $132D, $135C, $138F, $13C5, $13FF
dc.w $143C, $147C, $1A5E, $1A84, $1AAB, $1AD3, $1AFE, $1B2D
dc.w $1B5C, $1B8F, $1BC5, $1BFF, $1C3C, $1C7C, $225E, $2284
dc.w $22AB, $22D3, $22FE, $232D, $235C, $238F, $23C5, $23FF
dc.w $243C, $247C, $2A5E, $2A84, $2AAB, $2AD3, $2AFE, $2B2D
dc.w $2B5C, $2B8F, $2BC5, $2BFF, $2C3C, $2C7C, $325E, $3284
dc.w $32AB, $32D3, $32FE, $332D, $335C, $338F, $33C5, $33FF
dc.w $343C, $347C, $3A5E, $3A84, $3AAB, $3AD3, $3AFE, $3B2D
dc.w $3B5C, $3B8F, $3BC5, $3BFF, $3C3C, $3C7C

What is the right name for this?

I only want to know name for paste of comment.

 

What is it? Posting code into here without telling anybody is useless. So....where the fuck is it from? That is my only question.

 

What is it? Posting code into here without telling anybody is useless. So....where the fuck is it from? That is my only question.

Sonic 1. I doubt that it's even worth touching word_72790.

 

word_72790 in Sonic 1 is an FM frequencies table used by SMPS. This table stores, on what frequencies the YM 2612 will play different notes. The higher the frequency is, the higher it will sound.

It looks like the table was modified in your C/P, there are extra 18 notes in the beginning of it. What is purpose of it? Or, where did you find them? They don't make a proper octave (should've been 12 notes), and as I can see, these values are pretty messed up, like there goes $111 after $181. The frequencies in this table *must* go in ascending order, otherwise, you're ruining what notes are, you're ruining how music will sound, like note b-0 should never sound higher than b-1, but in your case, it will. Moreover, there are certain rules, of how the values should appear in this table, like every note in next octave should be $800 more than the same note from the previous octave.

 

Can someone give me a good tutorial on how to edit tiles in soned2?

 

Have a blast.

http://info.sonicretro.org/SCHG:SonED2_Manual

 

Youself - the best tutorial!

 

Now see, I'm more interested in things that modify gameplay, like Game Genie and PAR, but I also do palette hacks when I can. Thomas, in the meantime, you could see if you wanted to change game palettes. ^-^

My next question: (Basically three parts to it) What is the famous "speed cap," why was it important if it was, and how can it be removed? If it can be removed, is there a way to make a game genie code for removing speed caps or not? I'm guessing it's gotta do with ASM, but removing it might be the hard part.

 

There's 2 types. Speed cap and Air cap. Both present in Sonic 1, Air cap only in Sonic 2, and to my knowledge, all removed in Sonic 3 onwards.


Best way to explain speed cap is to make a situation. You're Sonic and you hit a booster and going at extreme speeds. If you decide to press the directional button, Sonic will suddenly slow down.


Let's call it mph, but Sonic's top speed in the MegaDrive games is 600mph. When you start running, his speed increases but once you hit 600mph, it will stay there. But there are situations (like a booster) that will make you go faster. So you hit a booster and are going at 1000mph. Now, if you're running right at 1000mph, then you decide to press the right button, a peice of code will come into play and see that Sonic has gone over his top speed, and therefor, will set it back at 600mph. Sonic has suddenly slowed down. If you were holding the right button, then hit the booster, and still holding the right button, the code won't do anything. It only happens once you press the right button (or the start of holding it). Same for going left. This only happens in Sonic 1. In Sonic 2, it's gone, but air cap is still present.


Air cap is exactly the same, but happens when Sonic is in the air and not on the floor. Example, you're going right at 1000mph on the floor, if you fall off a ledge and are still holding the directional button (or press it), the code will set Sonic's max speed again, and will go at 600mph; slowing him down. When approaching a ledge and about to fall off, letting go of any directional buttons until you land again will bypass this. This is both in Sonic 1 and 2.


There are fixes here to stop this happening, but only done in ASM.

Speed cap and Air cap fix (Sonic 1)

Air cap fix (Sonic 2)


If there are guides out there for Game Genie codes for fixing it, I don't know them.


Hope this helps,


redhotsonic

 

Yes, that helped a whole lot. Thanks for the explanation. :3 Appreciate it, RHS. ^^

 

Hmm.... What hack should I make or start to work on? I'm probably gonna stick with sonic 1 or 2, save 3&K for later. So that way I can get used to how asm works. Now, my ideas for my hack are as follows:

1. No speed & air/ air cap. (S1/S2)

2. Mess with instrument mixes.

3. Implement characters based on users of the community. (My inspiration for this is from S2 Recreation. Thanks for the inspiration, RHS. XD)

4. Maybe new moves, spindash will probs be the easiest to port if S1.

 

I suggest starting with Sonic 1 as it's the "easiest" to hack. There is a guide iirc on Sonic Retro that tells you how to remove the speed cap in both Sonic 1 and 2, the music guide on Retro can help you with music editing as well as the various tools on retro as well, there's another guide to help set up a new character in Sonic 1, and finally there's a guide on retro about porting the spindash. So you're pretty much covered there, however to get a feel for hacking Sonic you might want to start very small. Say change the number of lives you can get by destroying a extra life monitor. Hope this helps a bit. ^_^

 

It's always nice to give to the world =P

 

Hmm, anyone wanna collaborate on my hack with me? I would really appreciate it! In fact, I also feel like contributing to popular hacks. XD

 

This sounds like a very hard hack to program, Tom. XD as for me, I've been busy with midterm stuff for third quarter. But I'm back now and happy to say that I hope to start taking a crack at my thing here soon. I had an idea a long time ago about making a 2D version of sonic adventure on genesis. I've got the sprite sheets for most of the characters in my backups folder somewhere, but if I find them, I'll let you guys know. Doubt I'll do it seeing as how I'd need to change sprite mappings, and all that stuff, including layout changes. But even better for a hack idea I literally just got 5 minutes ago, what if we did a hack of Sonic 3 and Knuckles to change the characters to the females of Team Rose: Amy, Cream, and since big's not a gal, maybe Tikal or Rouge?

 

Why not try it out? I know someone has done Amy in S3K, but no Team Rose in S3K (to my knowledge).

 

Sure! I'd love to try. I guess I could make a discussion thread for my hack in another part of the forums to get more ideas on what moves to give the team. This just might work! ^-^ I'd need some help with editing sprite mappings to fit the characters and pattern cues in the same sense