S&KC Mod Loader

Discussion in 'Utilities' started by MainMemory, Apr 28, 2015.

  1. MainMemory

    MainMemory Well-Known Member Member

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    Someone posted a request for help with getting a level they had converted into Sonic & Knuckles Collection, but there was no easy way to do it, so I sought to rectify that.

    The S&KC Mod Loader has all the same basic features as the SADX/SA2 Mod Loaders, it can load DLL files containing custom code, it can load data from an INI file, and it has cheat code support. The one thing it doesn't have is file replacement, due to all the game's data other than music and sfx being in the EXE.

    Download

    To create a mod, create a folder within the "mods" folder of your S&KC install, and add a file named "mod.ini" within that folder containing the following lines:

    Name=Mod Name
    Description=Mod Description
    Author=Your NameAdditionally you can add a DLLFile line pointing to a DLL file to load, and an EXEData line pointing to an INI file listing data to be replaced in the EXE.
    The S&KC disassembly has been updated to include more split data files, all the levels in SonLVL's INI, and an example INI file for the mod loader's EXEData setting.

    Note that I have only done minimal testing with unedited AIZ1 files.
     
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  2. Lazarus

    Lazarus Newcomer Trialist

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    YOU FUCKING DELIVERED.
     
  3. MainMemory

    MainMemory Well-Known Member Member

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    I've finally made an update for this thing. Now it has self-update support, mod update support, save file redirection, and a custom music playback engine with support for MIDI, SMPS (Megadrive), VGMStream (ADX, BRSTM, etc), and other music file formats. There is a configuration tool for the music player included in the "Music" folder. Mods can also include their own Music folder to override the base settings, allowing for easier switching of music.

    The music player will default to using the SMPS music from the original Megadrive version of the games. There is a mod included that switches to the MIDI music from the PC release. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you feel about it), the MIDI playback method used by the mod loader requires the use of a soundfont file, so the MIDI music will not sound exactly the same as it normally would. The selected soundfont can be changed in the music configuration tool.

    If you had the old SMPS Player or HQ Music mods, you should remove them, as this has the functionality of both, and is incompatible with those mods. Additionally, if you've injected custom MIDI data into the game's MIDIOUT.DLL, you will have to export them to MIDI files and use the mod loader's music configuration to play them, as it ignores the original MIDIOUT.DLL entirely.

    I've also made a Mania Music mod as an example of the new system.
     
  4. MainMemory

    MainMemory Well-Known Member Member

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