Super Metroid Overhaul (Discussion and Teasers)

2008-11-10 10:22:10 am

Won't it kinda spoil the hack if you report too much on how you're progressing?
Btw I see no reason to make bakup copies of the actual ROM, as long as you have a clean SM rom (which you have) you can just use that to make patches and make a copy of it to patch when you need to restore from a backup.

Bioniclegenius

2008-11-10 05:35:28 pm

Fear Me! (Or else...)

Which is what I'm doing.

You'll notice on the site that I haven't been doing much recently, which is partly due to the competition, and partly because my friend, who agreed to work with me on this, IS NEVER FREE ON WEEKENDS lol laugh new

. I'm getting kinda a hacker's block with those three rooms, even though I know what I want. Anyways, something is bugging me about the chozo fight room, but I can't figure out what it is... So far, it's kinda looking just like a clone of a hundred others. Spike pit in the middle, spike ceiling, and spike walls. I would put a wall in the middle to inhibit your movement, but that stops the chozo, too. Ya know, when I tried that wall in the middle at first, it actually made it very difficult, because I had to get in that small space with the chozo. Made it nearly impossible. Kinda stuck, like i said.

SleepingSeaweed

2008-11-10 08:35:34 pm

Oh. Well I guess I was replying to the people suggesting it, but that's good anyway.

And for the torizo fight... I feel just adding spikes would be kind of boring, but it sounds like you're making a harder sort of hack so do it if you feel it's appropriate. You *could* do something fancy with adding more screens, Jathys has included a patch that lets you move the torizo around like a normal enemy (you have to change speed2 to make it wake up though). But I get the feeling you don't much like the idea of repointing data... Oh well. You made it blue, you could just change the rest of the room to match it. You can't really do much with the torizo fight, I think a graphical remake would add more than enough to it. Then maybe spikes could be icicles or something if you want them. Good luck with Cliffhanger btw.

TwinNova

2008-11-10 10:28:42 pm

So how is the project goin? Any teaser vids ready Wink

Sigfriedxx

2008-11-11 01:04:20 pm

The trick to a good hack is to surprise the players. in other words, reveal as little as possible about the hack. that includes screen shots and videos.

Bloodsonic

2008-11-11 03:17:38 pm

Quote from Sigfriedxx:

The trick to a good hack is to surprise the players. in other words, reveal as little as possible about the hack. that includes screen shots and videos.

not including these things can sometimes not be a smart idea because you don't get much feedback with your work from more than your beta-testers.

Bioniclegenius

2008-11-11 04:41:32 pm

Fear Me! (Or else...)

Well, yeah. The entire reason I started the 'Hack Video' thread - I'm trying to figure out how to make it. I was considering making a video of the entire beginning, as I have it, but not exploring, but that would be way too revealing. Maybe I should just pick a few rooms, record going through them in a particular state, and link those together. Or I could just explore the entire ship room, and record that, considering there's quite a bit there. How big can you expand the Chozo room without overwriting anything? I'd like to add several more screens to that, maybe... OOOO! IDEA! This would be so totally awesome! I gotta write this down to remind myself of it later... By the way, does anybody know if the Chozo checks its entire height for objects blocking its path, like most enemies, or just the foot? And can it go up and down slopes? That'd be helpful. Wish I could make a wall that it could go through, but you couldn't... Oh well. I'm going for a unique Chozo fight, one that is completely different from what anybody else has made, but is not so difficult that it takes more than maybe 1-2 tries, for those who aren't that good. I'm not planning on requiring any extra skills except for wall jumping, but still increase the difficulty. I liked how Dmantra invented a new move in his hack - the grapple block skill, it was you hanging on to a crumbling grapple block, and then the instant it dissolves, you let go and fire again, hitting the one above it, which pulls you through it. Very interesting, mostly because it involved me actually figuring it out! What I mostly mean is, though, that the difficulty will be higher than the original, but not by much, and should be a completely new experience, mainly for the novel concept of many of the rooms, even if several of them look the same, and the order is the same.

Well, yeah. The entire reason I started the 'Hack Video' thread - I'm trying to figure out how to make it. I was considering making a video of the entire beginning, as I have it, but not exploring, but that would be way too revealing. Maybe I should just pick a few rooms, record going through them in a particular state, and link those together. Or I could just explore the entire ship room, and record that, considering there's quite a bit there. How big can you expand the Chozo room without overwriting anything? I'd like to add several more screens to that, maybe... OOOO! IDEA! This would be so totally awesome! I gotta write this down to remind myself of it later... By the way, does anybody know if the Chozo checks its entire height for objects blocking its path, like most enemies, or just the foot? And can it go up and down slopes? That'd be helpful. Wish I could make a wall that it could go through, but you couldn't... Oh well. I'm going for a unique Chozo fight, one that is completely different from what anybody else has made, but is not so difficult that it takes more than maybe 1-2 tries, for those who aren't that good. I'm not planning on requiring any extra skills except for wall jumping, but still increase the difficulty. I liked how Dmantra invented a new move in his hack - the grapple block skill, it was you hanging on to a crumbling grapple block, and then the instant it dissolves, you let go and fire again, hitting the one above it, which pulls you through it.  Very interesting, mostly because it involved me actually figuring it out! What I mostly mean is, though, that the difficulty will be higher than the original, but not by much, and should be a completely new experience, mainly for the novel concept of many of the rooms, even if several of them look the same, and the order is the same.

BiggestSchnoz

2008-11-11 04:45:32 pm

[BANNED]

Quote from Sigfriedxx:

The trick to a good hack is to surprise the players. in other words, reveal as little as possible about the hack. that includes screen shots and videos.

Quote from Bloodsonic:

not including these things can sometimes not be a smart idea because you don't get much feedback with your work from more than your beta-testers.

I agree with both points. It was really sweet when, for example, Super Metroid Revolution EX came out. No one knew this hack was coming and there were very few if any screenshots/videos. It was a complete surprise and a good hack, too. But on the other hand, it's good to have as much feedback as possible. I guess the hacker has the final say in these matters and it revolves around their personal preferences....

Keep it up, genius of the bionicles!!

Bioniclegenius

2008-11-11 04:50:51 pm

Fear Me! (Or else...)

Quote from BiggestSchnoz:

Keep it up, genius of the bionicles!!

Thanks lol. Anyways, I have a really great idea for the chozo room, unless the pointer won't allow it... But, it'd be even better if I had another screen or two to mess with, because then I could make the top one just hard to get through, and the bottom could be reserved for the fight. Any clue how large that particular room could be expanded, and how to expand rooms?

SleepingSeaweed

2008-11-12 05:13:04 am

Quote from Bioniclegenius:

How big can you expand the Chozo room without overwriting anything? I'd like to add several more screens to that, maybe... OOOO! IDEA! This would be so totally awesome! I gotta write this down to remind myself of it later... By the way, does anybody know if the Chozo checks its entire height for objects blocking its path, like most enemies, or just the foot? And can it go up and down slopes? That'd be helpful. Wish I could make a wall that it could go through, but you couldn't... Oh well.

It's a 1-screen room, so there's very little free space in it... you could expand the ROM and point the room to your new bank, and the only limit would be that you can have no more than 50 screens in the room (sure wouldn't want to see that anyway). Otherwise, if you don't mind using another room for it, you could just point the level data to an existing room that has more space. Not sure what you mean by "objects blocking its path", but if Samus' horizontal position is the same as the Torizo's (front), it will slash and then jump back and spit its orbs. You can even be several screens below/above it, it will jump back anyway. It can walk around on slopes just fine.

[quote="Bioniclegenius"]
How big can you expand the Chozo room without overwriting anything? I'd like to add several more screens to that, maybe... OOOO! IDEA! This would be so totally awesome! I gotta write this down to remind myself of it later... By the way, does anybody know if the Chozo checks its entire height for objects blocking its path, like most enemies, or just the foot? And can it go up and down slopes? That'd be helpful. Wish I could make a wall that it could go through, but you couldn't... Oh well. 
[/quote]

It's a 1-screen room, so there's very little free space in it... you could expand the ROM and point the room to your new bank, and the only limit would be that you can have no more than 50 screens in the room (sure wouldn't want to see that anyway). Otherwise, if you don't mind using another room for it, you could just point the level data to an existing room that has more space. Not sure what you mean by "objects blocking its path", but if Samus' horizontal position is the same as the Torizo's (front), it will slash and then jump back and spit its orbs. You can even be several screens below/above it, it will jump back anyway. It can walk around on slopes just fine.

Bioniclegenius

2008-11-13 10:46:40 pm

Fear Me! (Or else...)

Ok. So far, I made it a 3-by-3, but every time I save, it says it has -28880 bytes to save in. I used to SMILE to make a bank at the end, and was it right to change the first two digits of the level data pointer to that? That's what I did. Also, it's the first room that I actually did the map for, and I did the map for the ship room, too. Haven't checked to make sure their right. Internet was down all afternoon, just as I got on, so I couldn't say anything lol laugh new

. Also, I haven't been on for the past week because of school - been swamped, and haven't even been able to look at the computer grin new

. Still working.

SleepingSeaweed

Edit history:

SleepingSeaweed: 2008-11-14 04:13:19 pm

2008-11-14 07:17:36 am

Quote from Bioniclegenius:

Ok. So far, I made it a 3-by-3, but every time I save, it says it has -28880 bytes to save in. I used to SMILE to make a bank at the end, and was it right to change the first two digits of the level data pointer to that?

If you expanded the ROM and haven't put anything else in your new bank, the level data pointer should be E08000.
Edit: see post below (Sigfriedxx) for why you get the negative space and what to do about it, though it's nothing to worry about really. (btw just came across an explanation for that in the SMILE help thread!)

Sigfriedxx

2008-11-14 12:37:31 pm

OPen the Level Entries txt file and type in the addreses you plan to allocate for level data ex: 308000 is one room, 309000 is the next room, 30A000 is the third room.... etc

Smile will will then check this lest as it reads room level data, it will search for the level data pointer for that room on this list (308000) and then compare it to how far away the next entry is, in this case 309000. it then subtracts 309000 from 308000 to get 1000

100 converted to decimal is 4096 bytes, which smile will then display as the "###/4096" on the top left bar.

Bioniclegenius

2008-11-14 06:21:21 pm

Fear Me! (Or else...)

Ok, I tried that. It won't let me save the file though, so I dunno what to do. I was going to try replacing what it was originally with that, but that address isn't in there. What should I do this time?

Bioniclegenius

Edit history:

Bioniclegenius: 2008-11-23 06:17:25 pm

2008-11-23 06:11:35 pm

Fear Me! (Or else...)

Ok, new update. Sadiztik Fish caught several errors that I had missed, and I finally remembered to fix one. I had some tiles in the ship room that were reversed, the bomb room was waay to hard to exit, and was impossible to not take any damage at one point, and the second missile room, which wasn't really a problem. Also, the one that I missed was the morphball room, which accidentally let you go through to the other side without the morphball, which trapped you effectively. I have remedied these errors and more. Also, BiggestShnoz, you'll be happy to know that even though there was a pixel perfect (or nearly so) wall jump in the Chozo room, I have removed that. I gave you a whole extra tile for leeway! laugh new

Edit: Sorry for the double post!

Bioniclegenius

Edit history:

Bioniclegenius: 2008-11-28 01:35:18 pm

2008-11-28 01:32:56 pm

Fear Me! (Or else...)

More updates! I went back, fixed some things, added some hidden passages, hid some items, and even did the first missile pack room from scratch. I attached a screenshot of it, and I'm gonna try to stop procrastinating and actually get down to business on those three rooms I have left... right now. Oh, and I'll attach a screenshot of the chozo fight room now - it's a 3*3 room now, so I'll only be able to get a small portion of it. Still, tell me what you think of this. I need some input so I can know what needs more work! Oh, and you can't tell by the screenshot, for some reason unknown to me, but that's underwater. For some reason, the water doesn't show up, but it acts like its there. It's normal, except for you not being able to see it. I copied the fx1 things from another room, so that's all correct. I dunno what's going wrong with it.

Edit: Sorry about the triple post!

attachments:

Super Metroid Overhaul Test_00006.png

Super Metroid Overhaul Test_00007.png

MetroidMst

2008-11-28 02:55:09 pm

Go ahead. Stare.

The missile looks just like a normal, missile expansion room, though the tiles around the door are errors, I think there is a "top/base" type tile for that paticular wall that would work much better.

Not much in the Chozo room, which could be a good thing.

Bioniclegenius

Edit history:

Bioniclegenius: 2008-11-29 11:49:36 am

2008-11-28 03:37:47 pm

Fear Me! (Or else...)

Well, with the chozo room, there's... Oops! Almost gave away a spoiler! laugh new

. Anyways, what's also bugging me is the transition from those vines in the floor (which I like and want to keep) and the wall tiles (which I can't find a good one that fits with the floor). Still need to add in a roof there, so hey. Lots of work to keep me going for now.

Edit: Ok. I'm going back through all of the rooms that are in Brinstar that you access at the beginning of the game - I'm changing the missile rooms and the room that connects both of them into Brinstar tiles. So far, I've gotten both the missile rooms done, and I'm working on the room that connects them. I'm going to reset the poll now, and we could vote again, but I'll stop it on the first of next month. Actually, that's in two days laugh new

. Oh well. Still, I'll release that room in a savestate in whatever room state I think would be better to look at, so enjoy. Also, with the poll, I got rid of the options that would be more spoiling to the game, so these aren't major spoilers. They're just a small peak at what I have at the moment. They will be changed eventually.

Well, with the chozo room, there's... Oops! Almost gave away a spoiler! :laugh:. Anyways, what's also bugging me is the transition from those vines in the floor (which I like and want to keep) and the wall tiles (which I can't find a good one that fits with the floor). Still need to add in a roof there, so hey. Lots of work to keep me going for now.

Edit: Ok. I'm going back through all of the rooms that are in Brinstar that you access at the beginning of the game - I'm changing the missile rooms and the room that connects both of them into Brinstar tiles. So far, I've gotten both the missile rooms done, and I'm working on the room that connects them. I'm going to reset the poll now, and we could vote again, but I'll stop it on the first of next month. Actually, that's in two days :laugh:. Oh well. Still, I'll release that room in a savestate in whatever room state I think would be better to look at, so enjoy. Also, with the poll, I got rid of the options that would be more spoiling to the game, so these aren't major spoilers. They're just a small peak at what I have at the moment. They will be changed eventually.

Sadiztik Fish

2008-11-30 03:58:47 am

OMG FLAN!!!!!!!

yay no more blue brinstar!

I don't actually like those tiles. I'm not using them in my hack cause IMO they're too boring and non-themed. Everywhere in Impusion has it's own theme, kind of like the original. There's the caves, fire area, station (for lack of a better word, or science labs), water/organic, medieval ruins (well, not medieval, but built up with bricks and stone and such), and a dark evil place aka the last area ;). That's what I have now, but I'll probably end up putting more areas in.

OMG i made a post about my hack!!! my bad.

BG you could always draw your own tiles to blend the walls and floor...

Bioniclegenius

2008-11-30 01:06:42 pm

Fear Me! (Or else...)

I noticed you didn't edit it out... extra_smug

. Anyways, I'm still leaving the morph ball room as blue. I like the second missile pack room, because I combine the green Brinstar and blue. Ack, my chat had broken yesterday, but I finally got it working, after about 3-4 total hours of working on it. Also, I finally started on the three rooms! I changed the graphics set for the first of them, and am working on it right now.

SleepingSeaweed

2008-11-30 04:50:21 pm

I must say you are very detailed about your progress...
For the torizo room, when the torizo is there the game automatically shows that haze, you can't change that with SMILE.

Bioniclegenius

2008-11-30 08:04:19 pm

Fear Me! (Or else...)

Ok. oh well. Anyways, I did finish up those Brinstar rooms, and actually finished up the first of those last three rooms. This game is starting to shape up, and my beta testers found a few things that needed fixing, so I got those. I'll also work on allowing a little more room for error, so hey. Next up, room two of the three.

MetroidMst

2008-11-30 11:15:00 pm

Go ahead. Stare.

The really is no good way for those vines, the closest I can do is flip them to the opposite side and place them that way. And you don't need a ceiling in your missile room. I find the leaving it out makes a room look much bigger than it is and makes it feel twice as big, just always make sure to solid the top row of "air" blocks off so players can't go on beta-testing escapades.

Bioniclegenius

2008-12-01 04:20:40 pm

Fear Me! (Or else...)

Well, I added that ceiling, finished up the other two rooms, and I actually got 2 out of 3 of the last rooms done. The final one I've worked on some, but I'm getting some enemy troubles. Oh well. Also, the poll is now closed (at least the one that mattered), and it was a tie, so I'm giving the morphball room. First state, right as you come down the elevator. I'll attach it to a later post, but unfortunately, it's one of those rooms I haven't really changed that much.

Bioniclegenius

2008-12-06 05:19:33 pm

Fear Me! (Or else...)

Ok, here's that savestate I've been promising. Mind you, this is NOT the final form of this room. Say hello... to the morphball room!

Also, new updates. We've made it to Brinstar, thanks to input from some people, and my friend Bradley coming over for the afternoon to help me with this.

attachment:

Super Metroid Overhaul Test.zs3