(Super) Sonic Adventure 2: The New Challengers! (Hack/Mod)

[goku262002]

Hello again, guess since my previous topic was moved from Showcase to Discussion that I have to post these here now, oh well not a big deal.

Anyways, after many months of Retro Tech members working long and hard on SA2PC and making some pretty sweet tools, Retro member Neo has used their tools to create a very cool hack/mod for SA2PC.

Check it out:

 

Oh, people still play this game? Okay, good.

(Super) Sonic Adventure 2: The New Challengers is something I've been working on for the past few weeks. It's a relatively extensive hack of the Steam version of Sonic Adventure 2 that aims to add replay value by allowing you to play any stage with any one of its same-gametype characters.

The project's roots lie in MainMemory's character select hack, which MainMemory created on his own after I pitched the initial concept to him. My hack is directly built on top of his own, and therefore inherits the following features:

• Holding the L and/or R buttons during level load will allow you to select a different character. Conversely to MainMemory's hack, holding down the R button will flip the hero/dark faction, while holding down the L button will instead select the alternate 2P character.
• 2P characters have been given several fixes so they don't crash the game at every turn, including but not limited to: levels that start with a cutscene, Amy/Metal Sonic doing fire somersaults, Chao/Dark Chao firing their bazookas, Dark Chao's lives icon.
• Various usability fixes, such as loading the 2P sound and voice banks when appropriate, and merging the character start/end position arrays so opposite-faction characters don't appear in the wrong place when they're outside their set of levels.

However, I didn't make this post just to describe what MainMemory has already done. Despite his amazing efforts, the game was sadly not complete -- various unforeseen situations still resulted in a crash or otherwise incorrect behavior that resulted in some stages being impossible to clear.

That's where this hack comes in. All stages are now possible to clear as all characters. All game crashes have (hopefully) been excised, and other obstacles have been worked around. Here is the full list of bugfixes:

• Fixed Knuckles/Tikal crashing in Dry Lagoon's water
• Fixed Knuckles/Tikal crashing in Cannon's Core 3's water
• Fixed Rouge/Chaos crashing in Aquatic Mine's water
• Fixed Rouge/Chaos crashing in Cannon's Core 4's water
• Fixed Tails crashing in Sand Ocean's quicksand
• Fixed Tails crashing in Egg Golem's quicksand
• Fixed Eggman crashing in Hidden Base's quicksand
• Fixed crashing when fighting a character vs. character boss as itself
• Fixed Knuckles/Tikal crashing when interacting with Dry Lagoon's turtles
• Fixed Knuckles/Tikal not being able to Move/Grab Dry Lagoon's turtles
• Fixed Shadow/Metal Sonic not regaining control at the start of Cannon's Core 5

Besides that, there are a vast number of gameplay and cosmetic changes to polish the overall experience:

• New custom textures for stage title cards so each of the twelve characters get their own unique color scheme.
• Tikal's emerald radar has been ported to 1P mode. It will only start blinking when it is within 100 units (yellow range) as opposed to 500 units (green range), so the game is much harder as her. Give it a try!
• Level-up items no longer spawn if you're playing as the wrong character. This avoids inconsistencies such as getting the Bounce Bracelet as Shadow, and then being able to bounce attack only for the duration of the stage and never again on that save file. 2P characters share level-up items with their 1P counterparts, so they will spawn for them.
• Shadow and Metal Sonic now load custom object layouts in Crazy Gadget/Final Rush to get around their lack of bounce attack. These changes do not affect Sonic or Amy's versions of the stage.
• Added Action Window text for actions characters don't normally have (Magic Hands for Amy, Treasure Scope for Chaos, etc).
• 2P characters now have victory sounds when clearing a stage. 1P characters now have unique victory sounds for bosses they don't normally face.
• Disabled Knuckles/Rouge's audible screams when the shutters open during their versus boss battle when they aren't actually there.
• Disabled Eggman's taunts during Security Hall's 1st mission when not playing as Rouge.
• Disabled Eggman's taunts during Crazy Gadget when not playing as Sonic. They also now play in the 1st mission in general instead of being tied solely to the story mode.
• Disabled Eggman's (and at one point, Tails') voiceovers during Cannon's Core when playing outside of the 1st mission or as the wrong character.
• You can no longer freely change characters between Cannon's Core segments. However, character progression in the stage is now determined relative to the chosen starting character, alternating gametype and hero/dark faction in a manner identical to the original. This balances things out a bit, as if you choose to plow through one section as Chao Walker, you'll have to lumber around another as Dark Chao Walker, while still keeping an element of strategy in deciding which character you'll want to be in a particular segment.
• Entering Chao World from a stage will now retain your current character properly, instead of defaulting back to the stage's normal character. You can still use the L and R buttons to change it, though.
• Chao World now loads the appropriate sound/voice banks if you're playing as a 2P character; no more file swapping.
• Modified the song playlist in Chao World to match the Dreamcast version more closely: the old Lobby and Race Entrance music has been restored, and the new Race Entrance music is now heard in Chao Cave. Chao Transporter (or Departure Machine, whatever) music is now the unused Bulletin Board theme.
• Disabled LoD models for Sonic and Shadow in 2P Mode.
• Merged with MainMemory's "No Battle" hack for Dreamcast-styled menus and title screen.
• Custom title screen with hack name and updated credits.

And finally, there are a few additional changes that replace existing files, and therefore also apply to your vanilla Sonic Adventure 2:

• Restored the missing lyrics to Death Chamber's music from the official soundtrack.
• Modified object layouts for Final Rush which fix the notorious broken vertical rail at the very end of the Chao route.
• Replaced one of Green Hill's sound banks, which broke the 2P characters' sound effects and gave Sonic that ear-bleeding jump sound.
• Restored the original "Presented by SEGA" screen, because frankly, the gigantic typeface on the new one was an eyesore.
• Custom lives icons for all the characters based on their Dreamcast originals.
• High-definiton item box icons, courtesy of BlazeHedgehog (except the 1-Up icon).

Oh, and appropriately enough, there's an easter egg in there somewhere. :ssh:

Many thanks to MainMemory for making this hack even possible. Seriously, the guy cracked the encryption on the program, disassembled it, documented the disassembly and implemented my original suggestion out of the blue mere days after I pitched it to him. He also gave me tips and pointers on stuff I wasn't sure of, including but not probably not limited to: Knuckles' missing animations, Cannon's Core character selection, Action Window text structures.

> Download <

Known issues:

• Your opponent in character vs. character bosses often taunts you, and in doing so calls you "imposter", "stupid fox" and "thief", regardless of who you're actually playing as. Not to mention "Darn it, Eggman", "I can't lose to Tails" and "Alright, Shadow, time for me to finish this". I didn't touch them because it opens up a can of worms: why should I remove some but not others, and the issue of maybe seeking replacements like the 2P mode already does in the vanilla game ("Engarde, Tails!" versus "Recharged!") so I dunno, maybe if I do another release.
• The file select screen only shows the right character 50% of the time. I actually tried messing around with the code that saves the last character played and the vanilla game will eat up anything that isn't negative (00~7F), though it displays increasingly wrong graphics. I have no idea how I would get it to load an additional texture file, nor how to reference it or anything. It's not a particularly important part of the game, anyway.
• Ideally I wouldn't replace Green Hill's #2 sound bank, but I can't make heads or tails of the code that cycles through all the files in the folder. (Interpreting compiled C code is hard.) Personally I don't regret changing it, but I shouldn't have to force everybody else to replace their files too.

Screenshots:

DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a crack, or otherwise a full version of the game. It will not run if you do not own the game on Steam, and the DLC content will be locked if you don't own that, either. I have no intention to promote piracy of this game, quite the contrary, I recommend you buy it if you haven't already, because it is a solid, fun game and the PC port is really top notch. Well, if you can ignore the midget trees in the Chao Garden. And the broken Chao Race RNG. And the Chao key glitch. Just... pretend there's no Chao World.

One last note, if you've downloaded any of the fixes I posted earlier in this thread, I urge you to restore the original files from your backups, or from here if you didn't keep any. All the fixes are now handled internally by the program so they don't interfere with the vanilla game. Thanks.

Comments, critique and suggestions are welcome.

Edited April 26, 2013 by goku262002

[Rusty Spy]

This ALMOST gives me a reason to buy this game..... almost.

 

Maybe if there's another super Sonic sale.

[PSI Wind]

By the way, you seem to require the Battle Add-on.

[t0ms0nic]

Only if you want to play as the 2P characters like Metal Sonic or Tikal, since they're unlocked in 2P with the Battle DLC. Yeah, basically nulls the point of you needing the mod, but still...

 

Seemed to all work okay from what I tried with just the other side's character, since I don't have the Battle DLC, anyway. Pretty nice how the 2P characters and their unique properties can be carried over into the main game and have unique layouts loaded for them!

[DarkRula]

I might give this a go sometime.

Playing Metal Harbour as Metal Sonic... Awesome.

[krazystitch]

This seems really cool, just don't know if I'd go for buying this game all over again just for it, though. It should be awesome for those people who already do have it and if I ever pick up the game on PC, I'll be sure to download this with it. Great job coming up with something like this!

[DarkRula]

Downloaded it, and played stages as Metal Sonic! Whoop!

However, Metal Harbour has that ring dash only part... and Metal Sonic can't ring dash...

 

Anyway, be trying more of it out later.

[JamieDawg]

You know what'd be cool?

Make new stages and call it Sonic Adventure 3

[t0ms0nic]

However, Metal Harbour has that ring dash only part... and Metal Sonic can't ring dash...

According to Neo, the creator of this thing, over on Retro:

 

2P characters inherit their level-up items from their 1P counterparts, so you'll first have to go to White Jungle as Shadow and pick up the Air Shoes before being able to light dash as Metal Sonic. Sorry.

 

So you -should- be able to... though he also offers a suggestion since it's possible to clear every level besides Crazy Gadget without it:

 

First you need to climb to the very top of the tower where you get the Light Shoes as Sonic. Jump on the stacked crates and then on top of the roof. Then, you need to charge up a spin dash at the aircraft carrier, release it and then immediately jump to maximize your distance in order to make it. Once at the far end of the aircraft carrier, you can just walk over the edge to find an alternate route that's normally hidden from view.

Metal Sonic and Amy can't spin dash, so it's not as straightforward, but you can do a high jump off the opposite end of the roof, turn around in mid-air, jump dash and then immediately jump again to conserve your speed across the long leap.

Edited April 27, 2013 by t0ms0nic

[dlvja6490]

I had a problem when testing the 2-player mode using the same character, everything was fine but when chose the same character and the other with his alternate costumethe, game has stopped working.

[Mr Useful]

Downloaded it, and played stages as Metal Sonic! Whoop!

However, Metal Harbour has that ring dash only part... and Metal Sonic can't ring dash...

 

Anyway, be trying more of it out later.

Try playing White Jungle first(where Shadow/Metal Sonic gets his Light Speed Shoes Upgrade.

Also on the topic of SA2 modding:

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/594750242003513167/416362D181A6A929870FDC8393DDC0BF49D1E5D9/

[Space☆Tomoki]

Just tried it out. I like it! It's cool that all the 2P characters aren't just re-skins of Sonic and Shadow, and have their own unique stats and abilities (such as Metal Sonic's Dark Shield). I love playing as Metal Sonic, he's super fast and jumps way higher than Sonic/Shadow/Amy and his dark shield is bad ass.

Edited April 27, 2013 by Tomoki Sakurai

[Sarah Jane Smith]

This should've been an available feature built-into the rerelease. Awesome!

[Jin.]

Hoho, don't mind if I do.

[DarkRula]

On what I posted - I've got three different versions of this game. It's hard to keep track of what I have got on each one. With the PC, I haven't even started on the Dark Story yet.

 

And why is it that whatever 3D Metal Sonic gets modded into, he always manages to break the level. Well, City Escape he can anyway. On the GUN Truck Chase, charge his Dark Sphere. Then when you go over a speed boost - BAM! Shoots over the levels barriers and down to his doom.

[goku262002]

I would suggest everyone has their own seperate 100% all-DLC version of SA2PC just for this mod and keep your personal one away in case your not completely finished.

[Mr Useful]

On what I posted - I've got three different versions of this game. It's hard to keep track of what I have got on each one. With the PC, I haven't even started on the Dark Story yet.

 

And why is it that whatever 3D Metal Sonic gets modded into, he always manages to break the level. Well, City Escape he can anyway. On the GUN Truck Chase, charge his Dark Sphere. Then when you go over a speed boost - BAM! Shoots over the levels barriers and down to his doom.

Because he's badass.

[Phantomime]

Loving the mod, but I wanted to post about the easter egg (which is really cool!)

 

 

If you play as Metal Sonic in the final fight against Sonic, you get the Stardust Speedway music!

 

[Goldenlink64]

Loving the mod, but I wanted to post about the easter egg (which is really cool!)

 

If you play as Metal Sonic in the final fight against Sonic, you get the Stardust Speedway music!]

 

That's... actually pretty clever... O.O

 

Makes me wish there was some kind of demo for SA2 so I could see if the game runs on my computer well enough to try out the mod.

[Mr Useful]

That's... actually pretty clever... O.O

 

Makes me wish there was some kind of demo for SA2 so I could see if the game runs on my computer well enough to try out the mod.

Well, look up the specs needed to play the game and compare them to yours.

[goku262002]

That's... actually pretty clever... O.O

 

Makes me wish there was some kind of demo for SA2 so I could see if the game runs on my computer well enough to try out the mod.

 

See if its listed here:

www.systemrequirementslab.com/

Edited April 28, 2013 by goku262002

[DeadAccount2021]

Exactly how do I switch characters? The main menu says Super Sonic Adventure 2 and the other changes work but I can't switch characters. I'm using a Xbox 360 controller's bumpers on the loading screen for a level (I also tried the L and R buttons on the keyboard at the same screen). Is there something else I need to download or am I doing something wrong? Am I trying at the wrong time or using the wrong buttons? I realy like the idea of the mod but it is'nt working. Thanks.

[goku262002]

There should be a readme.txt with all the instructions you need.

This reminds me, I should see if Neo made any updates. excuse me...

[DeadAccount2021]

I can't find the .txt. There wasn't one. I do have to say, mod making should be a business. It sounds like it's tough and mod makers would make a good amount of cash because of all the gamers.

 

[DarkRula]

When you say loading screen, is it the actual loading screen or the level name screen?