Pallette Fixing

I've been trying to fine tune some of the palette issues in my Sonic 1 hack, while I've worked out tricks for a lot of the more glaring cases, I wonder if there are solutions for any of these:

* Is there any way to get the title card screen to load the second palette line without screwing up the transition in any way? I more or less just want it so I can use the yellow for the act numbers.

* Is there a way to have separate tiles for when the HUD font flashes red. I switched the tiles to load from the yellow of the second line, but editing on the first line means it doesn't flash the right colour. Whenever I try to add tiles it just ends up corrupted by the score number font supposedly due to VRAM placement. Any suggestible loophole here?

* Another concerning the HUD font, I want a separate file to load during the Special Stage results screen. I can get half way with this since I can get the file to load using the Pattern Load Cues file, but after loading the new file from the SS results it then uses that file for normal gameplay rather than switching back. Is there a branch to keep both files to particular screens?

 

1) What do you mean by "without screwing up the transition"? Not sure what you mean, but when I change the Palette line of the Title Card, it just changes the color of the oval and the number, but it doesn't mess with the fade from black.
 
2) See Below; This trick may work mid-stage by calling for HUD_Update and HUD_Base ( Of course, you'd have to edit those subroutines to skip the SCORE and TIME text in this instance if you don't want those to be affected) in Object 21 HUD.asm, when you have no rings (and it branches to @norings, or your disassembly's equivalent). For me it works, but it results in an odd bug that slightly changes the display of the numbers (but maybe you might find a way around that issue).
 
3) Yes. I'm guessing you have to go here in "sonic.asm", and just include and load the new art:
 


loc_47D4:
tst.w (v_demolength).w
bne.s SS_FinLoop

disable_ints
lea (vdp_control_port).l,a6
move.w #$8200+(vram_fg>>10),(a6) ; set foreground nametable address
move.w #$8400+(vram_bg>>13),(a6) ; set background nametable address
move.w #$9001,(a6) ; 64-cell hscroll size
bsr.w ClearScreen
locVRAM $B000
lea (Nem_TitleCardNewArt).l,a0 ;load title card patterns->>Use this line to Load Different Art
bsr.w NemDec
jsr Hud_Base ; ---->>>>>Go to this subroutine to load new HUD art
enable_ints
moveq #palid_SSResult,d0
bsr.w PalLoad2 ; load results screen palette
moveq #plcid_Main,d0
bsr.w NewPLC
moveq #plcid_SSResult,d0
bsr.w AddPLC ; load results screen patterns

For different HUD art (the SCORE and RINGS text), in my hack I set up the HUD so that it loads an alternate tile set to show the time when the "Got Through Card" ran. I did this by creating a variable that was turned on at the right time (since you're working with the Special Stage, you might be able to check if the gamemode is Special). As seen by the "jsr Hud_Base" above, you can configure the subroutine to load the alternate art (should be in the file "HUD_Update.asm"):

 


Hud_Base: ; XREF: GM_Level; SS_EndLoop; GM_Ending
lea ($C00000).l,a6
bsr.w Hud_Lives
locVRAM $DC40
cmpi.b #id_Special,(v_gamemode).w ;->>> Since you are using the Special Stage, you may be able to use the Special Stage Gamemode check
beq.w LoadOtherArt
lea Hud_TilesBase(pc),a2
bra.w ContinueCode
LoadOtherArt:
lea     Hud_TilesBase2(pc),a2
ContinueCode:
move.w #$E,d2

loc_1C83E: ; XREF: Hud_LoadZero
cmpi.b #id_Special,(v_gamemode).w ;
beq.w LoadOtherArt2
         lea    Art_Hud(pc),a1
bra.w loc_1C842
LoadOtherArt2:
lea    Art_Hud2(pc),a1 ;>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Load New Art

loc_1C842:
move.w #$F,d1
move.b (a2)+,d0
bmi.s loc_1C85E
ext.w d0
lsl.w #5,d0
lea (a1,d0.w),a3

loc_1C852:
move.l (a3)+,(a6)
dbf d1,loc_1C852

loc_1C858:
dbf d2,loc_1C842

rts
; ===========================================================================

loc_1C85E:
move.l #0,(a6)
dbf d1,loc_1C85E

bra.s loc_1C858
; End of function Hud_Base

; ===========================================================================
Hud_TilesBase: dc.b $16, $FF, $FF, $FF, $FF, $FF, $FF, 0, 0, $14, 0, 0
Hud_TilesZero: dc.b $FF, $FF, 0, 0
Hud_TilesBase2:    dc.b $16, $FF, $FF, $FF, $FF, $FF, $FF,    0, 0, $14, 0, 0
Hud_TilesZero2:    dc.b $FF, $FF, 0, 0


The above lines change the time, but further down in the file there's a subroutine called "Hud_LoadArt", where you need to do the same thing to change the "Score" and "Ring" Art.

 

I heard somewhere you can't alter the visible palette lines without screwing up the black out at the start.

Well more specifically I need two palette lines rather than just changing the one, the first for the oval and the second for the numbers. I can alter the line, but it leads to this transition problem:






I can't get the check for the special stage results to work either, though it might have to do with me using the Hivebrain version, is the gamemode check any different for it (I've found the equivalent for checking for special stage ($10), though don't know if it's any different for the results screen)?

 

Okay managed to pull of the first edit by extending Sonic's palette to have the second line of yellows, however it indeed DOES screw up the transition, making the sprites with that colour load more suddenly than the others (and sometimes before the objects are loaded properly). It also fucks up the ending. Probably not worth it then.

Does anyone know if special stage and special stage results are a separate game mode bit by the way?

 

If you search for "GameModeArray", yeah, special stage is referred as separate game mode (at least it is separate from normal level mode).

 

The Special Stage and the results screen aren't separate though. Upon further inspection of the special stage loop code however, it turns out the gamemode does change to 'Level' before the results screen. But, what you could do instead is create a new variable that would be set at the beginning of the Special Stage routines, and turned off after they're all over.