2276 replies to this topic

[goku262002]

Man Dario, you never tell us all the cool detail like you do at retro we care about the techincal woosits behind this project too . Lucky you got me here to do it:

So here's a new update video as promised for the progress we got done so far. This time encoded at 1080p and played by your fellow beloved member TwilightZoney.

*Posted video above*

Screenshots:

Spoiler

Tons more screens at Sonic Retro!

Summary of new features:

• Converted model vertex format globally to Generations data type(this took lots of research)
• With model fixing came shadow and lighting fixing as well, plus most materials showing up fine now.
• Breakable Objects also converted properly plus with their physics files ported over(thanks to some handy automatization I did)
• Material fixing is still on progress but going good

The remaining 2 levels weren't shown because they look too ugly at the moment without the full vertex data of the unleashed stages properly reverse engineered yet. The most important details that are missing at the moment are normals(they're autogenerated on our versions for now, so that's why "smoothing groups" might look weird), and vertex coloring. This should be somewhere in the original data and I aim to port it even more accurately later.

So our project goals are shifting a bit at the moment because news have reached my ears that someone is indeed cracking the Havok 360 binary format and endian-swapping it to the PC version. This might mean we won't even need to make our own collision and animations, but the original goal of fixing all those glitches would still remain though. What would be left over then is fixing the layouts as best as possible.

In regards to the Jungle Joyride teleportation thing I haven't been able to figure it out so I might just end up moving it closer and just recreate some scenery I guess.

As for SonicGLvl things are looking up. Geometry importing still has long ways to go but it has been going good so far. Working on both projects mutually benefits the progress of the other so don't think I'm leaving either behind!

But reguardless, point stands that you and twlight are awesome and are gods among generations hackers.

Edited by goku262002, 12 April 2012 - 06:01 AM.

[Dario ff]

Game is fixed.

[GravityLoL]

now make a riders sonic mod

[SweeCrue]

Game is fixed.

Needs a monocle and a cane.

[GravityLoL]

and a stick

[Nik1895]

Game is fixed.

I don't get it. o_O

Edited by Nik1895, 13 April 2012 - 07:04 PM.

[Sean]

now make a riders sonic mod

and a stick

Righto, can you not make spammy posts like these? Thanks.

[Dario ff]

I should perhaps do some explanation behind the hat thing.

As some of you may know, skeletons are indeed built in in the .model files. There's some cases that if the .model file just doesn't have certain bones as a player character it'll crash, so people have been unable to model swap some stuff. I should point out they do have internal names as well, and the names should matchup with the Havok skeletons if you want to do animations with them.

Of course since my editor works on a variety of formats, and models are just pretty much terrain models with skeletons, I'm currently experimenting with loading .model files as well. It's not hard but I can't really render the bones appropiately yet. The thing is, I can load them and resave them as I wish.

So yeah, hat. I did a hat on 3DS Max, exported the mesh, and in my code just loaded Sonic's model, appended the extra hat model, and bound it to the head bone(index #6, you can look at the list I dumped here , unknown total is just the parent bone) with a bone weight of 0. This is merely a test if my model writer was working, and it helped me debug and find the following:

- The last 8 bytes of each vertex were indeed just bone indices and weights.
- What I didn't know was that the index was referencing a local table in each submesh. You can find it after the vertex declaration block. The bone indices in that table are the global ones of the skeleton used.
- And it also helped me decrypt all the skeleton and bone format as well.

I guess the more technically inclined towards model hacking would be interested in these news(for example Joe TE with his skeleton modifications to get Super Models working).

So TL;DR;, I'm adding support for loading skeletons and I intend to try to convert one from Max and load it up ingame, as an object most likely.

Here's a rather amusing video I did to showoff the hat thing.

Edited by Dario ff, 14 April 2012 - 06:21 PM.

[ArtFenix]

Looks like "Sonic Generations: World War I edition".

[squidgy617]

Hi guys. I just joined this forum, basically because... well, this topic! So much on modding, I needed somewhere to discuss it all, and I thought this was the best place because there's so much progress posted here! Anyway...

@Dario: So... you can load skeletons, which would mean, in theory, we will eventually be able to use the statue room models/models from outside of Generations? I have been waiting to hear this, and its pretty exciting!
Playable Big would be awesome.

So anyway, I'm curious... is there a good place for me to learn animation hacking? I want to know the process on making my own animations and putting them into the game. At the moment I'm limited to what the game has in it, and I'd much prefer to make my own.

[Motwera]

Dario, Can you please find some code that can modifies the distance view?

[Tracker_TD]

I have a small question-
I have the Steam demo of the game-is it possible to get Classic in Modern's level in that? I realise this is basic stuff, but regardless I'm puzzled.

Thanks in advance!

[Joe T.E.]

I should perhaps do some explanation behind the hat thing.

As some of you may know, skeletons are indeed built in in the .model files. There's some cases that if the .model file just doesn't have certain bones as a player character it'll crash, so people have been unable to model swap some stuff. I should point out they do have internal names as well, and the names should matchup with the Havok skeletons if you want to do animations with them.

Of course since my editor works on a variety of formats, and models are just pretty much terrain models with skeletons, I'm currently experimenting with loading .model files as well. It's not hard but I can't really render the bones appropiately yet. The thing is, I can load them and resave them as I wish.

So yeah, hat. I did a hat on 3DS Max, exported the mesh, and in my code just loaded Sonic's model, appended the extra hat model, and bound it to the head bone(index #6, you can look at the list I dumped here , unknown total is just the parent bone) with a bone weight of 0. This is merely a test if my model writer was working, and it helped me debug and find the following:

- The last 8 bytes of each vertex were indeed just bone indices and weights.
- What I didn't know was that the index was referencing a local table in each submesh. You can find it after the vertex declaration block. The bone indices in that table are the global ones of the skeleton used.
- And it also helped me decrypt all the skeleton and bone format as well.

I guess the more technically inclined against model hacking would be interested in these news(for example Joe TE with his skeleton modifications to get Super Models working).

So TL;DR;, I'm adding support for loading skeletons and I intend to try to convert one from Max and load it up ingame, as an object most likely.

Here's a rather amusing video I did to showoff the hat thing.
*insert Sonic the Hathog video here*

I had a feeling that you were doing that. All of the technical details look a bit confusing right now, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

P.S. - I swear that if this will eventually open up to the ability to import any model as long as it's rigged to a pre-existing skeleton, I'm going to go fix the scaling issues in Classic Super Sonic's model+skeleton and make a proper Super Silver model for the rival battle.
(Super Smash Bros Brawl modders have made that same type of model importing available. I've already gotten used to re-rigging models and working with materials in that game, as my avatar shows. I swear, every skill I've picked up from Brawl modding is proving REALLY useful for Generations...)

Edited by JoeTE, 14 April 2012 - 05:05 PM.

[Jin Hakumen Kisaragi]

I have a small question-
I have the Steam demo of the game-is it possible to get Classic in Modern's level in that? I realise this is basic stuff, but regardless I'm puzzled.

Thanks in advance!

I'm not sure. If the Classic files are already in the demo, you can use those, but if not, you'd have to download them from somewhere else. And even then, I'm not sure if the demo would recognise it.

[MJarcos]

Well, do not know if I should be asking this here, but I'll try!

Does anyone have any idea of the location of text files of the game? Type: Menus and subtitles. I am interested in tradui it into my language.

Thank you!

And I can not wait for the conversion of Unleashed

[Marx rT]

Well, do not know if I should be asking this here, but I'll try!

Does anyone have any idea of the location of text files of the game? Type: Menus and subtitles. I am interested in tradui it into my language.

Thank you!

And I can not wait for the conversion of Unleashed

I did some research and it appears all texts are stored in image format(.dds or something), even subtitles, so sadly you can't localize it without modifying images, and it's a lot of work.

[SuperRiderTH]

I iz makin progres on flyng


Seriously though, I am now able to airboost after I airboost.

And the hud is made by DarkChaoX100 on youtube, Got it for the boost meter mostly, but then I decided to make the boost bar the 06 one... yeah.. XD

[SuperRiderTH]

I found this in the select stage file.
<Category>
<Name>ChallengeAct チャレンジAct</Name>
<Category>
<Name>Classic</Name>
<Category>
<Name>GreenHillZone</Name>
<Stage>
<Type>Action</Type>
<Name>01 ソニックゴーストとタイケツ！　vs SonicGhost</Name>
<Archive>ghz100</Archive>
<Mission>1</Mission>
</Stage>

I have a idea, doubt it will work but...

1.Change archive
2. Load completely different level in new archive you make.
3. 90 moar levels to use!

[goku262002]

Test it and tell us the results. this may prove useful in Dario's project.

[SuperRiderTH]

I have tested it, and it doesn't work.
But it looks like it is part of a level select menu.
The menu was probably for a debug mode.
Does anyone know how to read the .xncp files? Or is it a mystery?

Edited by SuperRiderTH, 16 April 2012 - 01:58 AM.