[SM] Super Metroid: Golden Dawn

Edit history:

arkarian: 2009-06-09 08:45:07 pm

2007-10-12 06:37:05 pm

Nearly 7 months in the making, and it's finally finished. Every room has been disassembled and remade, and several areas of the planet bear no resemblance to what they once were.

First off, just as a warning to any less experienced players, difficulty is definitely stepped up from Dependence. Walljumping is absolutely required from the very beginning. Other techniques that are required to complete the game are "infinite" single-wall walljumping (only in a couple of places though), single bombjumping, and the midair morph. Some insane crumble block skills are also required. As with most hacks, "infinite" bombjumping is not required.

Another little bit of a warning: There's some early heavy difficulty with crumble blocks but if you want you can try to abuse savestates to get through it and move on to the juicy exploration-based center.

While my first hack, Dependence, focused mainly on the individual room design, Golden Dawn has turned out much different because, instead, it focuses more on overall area layout and area design. It's also larger than Dependence. Nearly every room has been expanded to the limit where needed, in order to get the most out of the default 3meg game size. Overall, I'd estimate it's around 1.3 times the size of Dependence and the original SM.

Similarly to Dependence, save states are required because of the lack of save points. They cause even worse errors when inserted into this game than they did in Dependence.

And while the game has gone through a pretty decent playtesting phase, if you notice any bugs, be sure to report them. Be sure to read the readme for a bit more info and a known issues list.

Also, I may be releasing a sort of 'hardmode' patch for it a few days from now as well after one of my playtesting experiments for it yielded good results. It'll probably just cut the number of possible e-tanks in half, remove the reserves and alter some room design a bit to increase the difficulty. Maybe some other things I haven't decided on as well.

Some preview pics:

http://www.freewebs.com/blacktelomeres/gdpreviewpics.htm

Two fullroom shots that were released earlier:

http://www.freewebs.com/blacktelomeres/SuperMetroidC7965B.PNG
http://www.freewebs.com/blacktelomeres/superMetroid7975C.PNG

Link to the patch:

http://www.freewebs.com/blacktelomeres/gddp.htm

The latest patch for Dependence, my seminal hack, can also be found on that page as well for convenience's sake.

Thread title:

Nearly 7 months in the making, and it's finally finished. Every room has been disassembled and remade, and several areas of the planet bear no resemblance to what they once were.

First off, just as a warning to any less experienced players, difficulty is definitely stepped up from Dependence. Walljumping is absolutely required from the very beginning. Other techniques that are required to complete the game are "infinite" single-wall walljumping (only in a couple of places though), single bombjumping, and the midair morph. Some insane crumble block skills are also required. As with most hacks, "infinite" bombjumping is not required.

Another little bit of a warning: There's some early heavy difficulty with crumble blocks but if you want you can try to abuse savestates to get through it and move on to the juicy exploration-based center.

While my first hack, Dependence, focused mainly on the individual room design, Golden Dawn has turned out much different because, instead, it focuses more on overall area layout and area design. It's also larger than Dependence. Nearly every room has been expanded to the limit where needed, in order to get the most out of the default 3meg game size. Overall, I'd estimate it's around 1.3 times the size of Dependence and the original SM.

Similarly to Dependence, save states are required because of the lack of save points. They cause even worse errors when inserted into this game than they did in Dependence.

And while the game has gone through a pretty decent playtesting phase, if you notice any bugs, be sure to report them. Be sure to read the readme for a bit more info and a known issues list.

Also, I may be releasing a sort of 'hardmode' patch for it a few days from now as well after one of my playtesting experiments for it yielded good results. It'll probably just cut the number of possible e-tanks in half, remove the reserves and alter some room design a bit to increase the difficulty. Maybe some other things I haven't decided on as well.

Some preview pics:

http://www.freewebs.com/blacktelomeres/gdpreviewpics.htm

Two fullroom shots that were released earlier:

http://www.freewebs.com/blacktelomeres/SuperMetroidC7965B.PNG
http://www.freewebs.com/blacktelomeres/superMetroid7975C.PNG

Link to the patch:

http://www.freewebs.com/blacktelomeres/gddp.htm

The latest patch for Dependence, my seminal hack, can also be found on that page as well for convenience's sake.

Bolognab

2007-10-12 06:51:17 pm

I've gone through the first few rooms, and its looking great! No bugs so far...

ING-X

2007-10-12 07:14:34 pm

yeah

I predict this thread will reach 50 pages by the end of 2008. :P

Fano7

2007-10-12 07:41:03 pm

Every Bit Counts

I would play this, but my computer says that the ips patch is broken. When I try to play it, I get a screen of garbage. Any help?

Black Telomeres

2007-10-12 07:56:34 pm

Hm, what are you using to patch the ips?

ducknerd

2007-10-12 08:07:59 pm

Eschews avatars

All right! New hack material!

My first impressions: Your level design has gotten EXCELLENT (Dependence was a little off in places). Nice and tricky, good linearity/nonlinearity ratio. Also, I think there I have found a small sequence break:

I'm not sure where the "official" first Missiles are, but if you go to the right part of the landing site, climb the rock outcroppings, and walljump off the very bottom of one of them, you can make your way into a cramped little tunnel which leads to the upper-right part of the room with a missile pack in the wall. If these are the real first Missiles, I have quite a treat in store for me.

Oh, and spikes suck.

EDIT: Found a place to get stuck. The "omg Samus walks on water!" room has a small pit in its left side where you can get "under" the solid water. Dunno what's going on there, but you can't jump out of 3-block-wide water pits w/out high jump boots.

EDIT2: NM, I'm an idiot.

Fano7

2007-10-12 08:11:30 pm

Every Bit Counts

Quote from Black Telomeres:

Hm, what are you using to patch the ips?

Lunar IPS. It's also says that the IPS patch seems to be truncated or misalinded.

Gaius_4

2007-10-12 08:16:27 pm

Question. I didn't see it mentioned anywhere in this topic... Will it require the (E) version or the (JU)?

I too should make a hack of SM someday. :P
As a kid I've always been designing levels for games
like rastan, strider, black-tiger, sonic...
What could I do with this today, being such a man -that I am?

Black Telomeres

2007-10-12 08:30:50 pm

Quote from Gaius_4:

Question. I didn't see it mentioned anywhere in this topic... Will it require the (E) version or the (JU)?

Like every other hack I believe, or at least most of them, it requires JU.

Quote from Fano7:

Lunar IPS. It's also says that the IPS patch seems to be truncated or misalinded.

Hm, my only suggestion would be to try downloading SNEStool and use that (yes I know its old and LunarIPS is the new "best" patcher program, but as long as it works, it works.) Here's a link: http://www.zophar.net/utilities/download/snestl12.zip I'll have to check this out to see if there's some compatability issue between lunarIPS and the patch. The patch was made using SMILE, though, so I would assume any problem with it would exist for Dependence and quite a few other hacks as well.

Quote from ducknerd:

I'm not sure where the "official" first Missiles are, but if you go to the right part of the landing site, climb the rock outcroppings, and walljump off the very bottom of one of them, you can make your way into a cramped little tunnel which leads to the upper-right part of the room with a missile pack in the wall. If these are the real first Missiles, I have quite a treat in store for me.

Wow, that is indeed a sequence break. I actually had no idea that was possible. However, from what I can see, getting missiles early that way doesn't really cause any other problems. Although if you can walljump up there without the morph ball, get the missiles, and then destroy the red door cap in the large morphball room to go down into the "intro" room below, you can jump under a little outcropping and get stuck if you dont have the morph ball yet. But thats really a pretty minor bug.

[quote="Gaius_4"]Question.  I didn't see it mentioned anywhere in this topic...  Will it require the (E) version or the (JU)?[/quote]

Like every other hack I believe, or at least most of them, it requires JU.

[quote="Fano7"]Lunar IPS. It's also says that the IPS patch seems to be truncated or misalinded.[/quote]

Hm, my only suggestion would be to try downloading SNEStool and use that (yes I know its old and LunarIPS is the new "best" patcher program, but as long as it works, it works.) Here's a link: http://www.zophar.net/utilities/download/snestl12.zip I'll have to check this out to see if there's some compatability issue between lunarIPS and the patch. The patch was made using SMILE, though, so I would assume any problem with it would exist for Dependence and quite a few other hacks as well.

[quote="ducknerd"][spoiler]I'm not sure where the "official" first Missiles are, but if you go to the right part of the landing site, climb the rock outcroppings, and walljump off the very bottom of one of them, you can make your way into a cramped little tunnel which leads to the upper-right part of the room with a missile pack in the wall. If these are the real first Missiles, I have quite a treat in store for me.[/spoiler][/quote]

Wow, that is indeed a sequence break. I actually had no idea that was possible. However, from what I can see, getting missiles early that way doesn't really cause any other problems. Although if you can walljump up there without the morph ball, get the missiles, and then destroy the red door cap in the large morphball room to go down into the "intro" room below, you can jump under a little outcropping and get stuck if you dont have the morph ball yet. But thats really a pretty minor bug.

Fano7

2007-10-12 08:40:01 pm

Every Bit Counts

How do you use that (snestl12)?

Black Telomeres

2007-10-12 08:48:09 pm

Well, simply open it and then go to "use IPS patch" I believe the option is. Make sure the ips and the rom are in the same directory as SNEStool, select the IPS and then the rom on the list with the arrow keys, and it should say "IPS patched ok." Also, for some reason, I'm getting the sinking suspicion that freewebs perhaps cut off your download of the rar and that's why LunarIPS is responding like that. So perhaps check for that as well.

Fano7

2007-10-12 08:56:58 pm

Every Bit Counts

Yeah. Um... I do that and it comes up with the parameter is incorrect.

Black Telomeres

2007-10-12 09:01:08 pm

There must be something wrong with the rar you downloaded the IPS with then, or perhaps the version of your game. Try redling the patch.

Fano7

Edit history:

Fano7: 2008-01-11 04:26:37 pm

2007-10-12 09:04:41 pm

Every Bit Counts

I did that. Odd. This and Dependendenc are the olny hacks I have had trubble with. I gave up with dependence (I first tried it a week ago), but I don't want to give up with this.

Black Telomeres

2007-10-12 09:08:26 pm

Even so, it's probably against the rules here to post a link to it though. Plus you might be an FBI agent aiwebs_016

Fano7

2007-10-12 09:14:18 pm

Every Bit Counts

OK. I guess I will try and try again. It would be nice if there was a video of the things you need to do to get it working. Rolling Eyes

P.JMan

2007-10-13 04:16:15 am

I like Big Butts and I can not lie

You could always soft-patch it

Rename the Super Metroid ROM and the Golden Dawn hack so that they both have the same name (but keep their extensions). When you open the ROM in Snes9x or ZSNES you'll be playing the hack. If you want to play Super Metroid again you can just rename the ROM back

Crys

2007-10-13 08:35:12 am

Green-Kirby, ROAR!

Ugh.

Yea it is better then your last hack.
I love exploring hacks with vast areas.
But shooting all blocks to find a way is not exactly my type of exploring.
I know level design is limited before Morph and bombs. (Or any other items depending on order)
But I prefer more platforming then running around aimlessly having no idea where to go and shooting random tiles till you find a way.

Any way I will keep playing and tell you more off what I think when I manage to get a few items.

Fano7

2007-10-13 08:54:34 am

Every Bit Counts

P.J.Man, I did that. It still doesn't play right. What is wrong? Does it not work with Snes9x 1.43 v9? Can somebody put up a youtube vid of the game or something?

Black Telomeres

2007-10-13 01:07:39 pm

Quote from Green-Kirby:

But shooting all blocks to find a way is not exactly my type of exploring.
I know level design is limited before Morph and bombs. (Or any other items depending on order)
But I prefer more platforming then running around aimlessly having no idea where to go and shooting random tiles till you find a way.

Well, technically there are only 4 places where you have to shoot tiles to progress before you get the bombs:

1. The shotblocks leading down to go left to get the morph ball. Both blocks are cracked as a hint.
2. The block that holds the missiles has to be hidden, so it has to be a shotblock. The passage within the steel structure sort of hints that there has to be something in there
3. One shotblock in the hall that has some structures blocking progress that you can then roll into. (But here too, you basically know you need to get past that structure, so its just a matter of shooting around one small area.)
4. The rather obvious shotblocks as soon as you enter the room before Bomb Torizo that probably shouldn't even count

Quote:

P.J.Man, I did that. It still doesn't play right. What is wrong? Does it not work with Snes9x 1.43 v9? Can somebody put up a youtube vid of the game or something?

It does work with SNES9x 1.43 v9. In fact, thats the emulator I and a few other testers tested the game with. I still think it has to be something wrong with your download, like the rar becoming corrupted. I'll attach the patch here and see if maybe its the freewebs location that's screwing up your patch.

[quote="Green-Kirby"]
But shooting all blocks to find a way is not exactly my type of exploring.
I know level design is limited before Morph and bombs. (Or any other items depending on order)
But I prefer more platforming then running around aimlessly having no idea where to go and shooting random tiles till you find a way.[/quote]

Well, technically there are only 4 places where you have to shoot tiles to progress before you get the bombs:

[spoiler]1. The shotblocks leading down to go left to get the morph ball. Both blocks are cracked as a hint.
2. The block that holds the missiles has to be hidden, so it has to be a shotblock. The passage within the steel structure sort of hints that there has to be something in there
3. One shotblock in the hall that has some structures blocking progress that you can then roll into. (But here too, you basically know you need to get past that structure, so its just a matter of shooting around one small area.)
4. The rather obvious shotblocks as soon as you enter the room before Bomb Torizo that probably shouldn't even count[/spoiler]

[quote]P.J.Man, I did that. It still doesn't play right. What is wrong? Does it not work with Snes9x 1.43 v9? Can somebody put up a youtube vid of the game or something?[/quote]

It does work with SNES9x 1.43 v9. In fact, thats the emulator I and a few other testers tested the game with. I still think it has to be something wrong with your download, like the rar becoming corrupted. I'll attach the patch here and see if maybe its the freewebs location that's screwing up your patch.

attachment:

Super_metroid_Golden_Dawn_v266.rar

Saturn

2007-10-13 01:58:43 pm

Interesting hack so far. Been playing it for a while but seems I'm stuck now:

I got
- Morphball
- a couple of Missiles
- Bombs
- Varia Suit (WTF, so early and so far so useless :))

Any idea where to go next?
I was in some many places already, but they either loop, or the passages are blocked by Super Missile blocks or water...

P.JMan

2007-10-13 02:01:23 pm

I like Big Butts and I can not lie

Is the ROM you hacked a headered ROM or an unheadered one. I can't get this hack to work either and I've got a headerless ROM

Saturn

2007-10-13 02:02:41 pm

Works well one the headered one for me.

Anima Zero

2007-10-13 03:14:25 pm

Saturn: In the area where you got the morph ball, there's a door at the very bottom of the room that's red. If you haven't been there yet, that should give you more areas to look around in.

As for me...I've got a decent supply of items (2 E-Tanks, 55 Missiles, Morph Ball, Bombs). Thing is...I'm currently searching for the Varia Suit to make travel in the Underworld easier (Blasted heated zones :P). Not having much luck so far xD.

EDIT: At freaking last :D! I found the Varia Suit. Also found one more pack of missiles to bring my total up to 60.

Onto Underworld now.

Black Telomeres

2007-10-13 03:49:26 pm

Quote from P.JMan:

Is the ROM you hacked a headered ROM or an unheadered one. I can't get this hack to work either and I've got a headerless ROM

Thats probably the issue. Its headered, so add a header and it should work for you.

Quote from Saturn:

Any idea where to go next?
I was in some many places already, but they either loop, or the passages are blocked by Super Missile blocks or water...

The Varia will help you reach the next two key items. You found it pretty easily it seems. A lot of other people had some problems with it. Anyway, I'd say a good hint would be to head as far to the right in Dark Gardens as you possibly can and search around that area (but no, you dont have to get through the water room) But Anima also offered a good hint as well for where to go.