X-Hax - Sonic Adventure Autodemo

In this thread we will post research and functionality restorations for the SA1 Autodemo prototype! Here are some tools and resources that you can use: Dreamcast Image Builder This tool lets you create modified GDIs or CDIs of Dreamcast games, including the Autodemo. Like the SA Mod Managers, it has a mods system, and you can apply different mods created by others. Download the latest version Dreamcast Mods Repo This is where you can get mods for the Autodemo and other Dreamcast games. These mods are for Dreamcast Image Builder. Dreamcast Mods Repo How to use: Git clone anywhere then copy DreamcastImageBuilder.exe there and run it. Guides How to play Dreamcast SA1 with mods - this is for the final version but the main steps are the same for the Autodemo. How to add mods to DC Image Builder How to make your own mods for DC Image Builder Outdated links Old Autodemo hack archive Old screenshots, videos Cheat Engine tables, lists etc. (edited)

Autodemo Tools on the SA Tools Research Repo https://github.com/X-Hax/sa_tools_research BlockBitTool: Processes an Autodemo landtable that uses Block Bits for individual texture pointers, and outputs a fixed landtable and a .satex texlist. RecreatePVM: Builds a PVM from a list of texture names in a .txt or .satex file by looking up textures by name in the textures folder. Useful in combination with BlockBitTool. PatternPatchMaker: Creates byte or pattern (pointer) replacement patches for SA1 Image Builder by comparing original and modified files. ExportRawBinary: Outputs raw binary data of NJS_OBJECTs and NJS_MOTIONs or writes it at specified offsets in a binary with automatic pointer adjustment. (edited)

8:27

Previous Threads Previous thread 1: https://discord.com/channels/446023672147345418/1238478372955492384 Previous thread 2: https://discord.com/channels/446023672147345418/1238561775281111133 (this is a private thread, ask anyone with the Researcher role to be able to view it) (edited)

PkR pinned a message to this channel. 18.06.2024 8:28

@Speeps What does this mean?

(1ST_READ) Expand Act 1's object list
NOTE: In case 2CC83700-2CCA7FD0 is used by something else and breaks the game, there needs to be two spaces at least 0xE2C0 each in size to fit both the SET file and the current object list.

I've been trying to convert the Windy Valley hack into a mod, followed the notes in WVPatchInfo.txt but it resets trying to boot the stage...

PkR

@Speeps What does this mean?

(1ST_READ) Expand Act 1's object list
NOTE: In case 2CC83700-2CCA7FD0 is used by something else and breaks the game, there needs to be two spaces at least 0xE2C0 each in size to fit both the SET file and the current object list.

Need a large space to write all of WV's objects

11:58

There's one that the SET file gets loaded in and one for the stage objects that it loads

i'd implemented the patches from the notes in the one i put on nextcloud in a patterns file

13:51

0x8c06caba seems to be code for printing miniboss debug stuff but despite it running through its code properly, it never seems to print anything? it might need to be called from a stage bin specifically

woof

i'd implemented the patches from the notes in the one i put on nextcloud in a patterns file

I looked at it but it doesn't look like it's all of them, also I wanted to make patches for STG02

miniboss thing checks for controller 2 left/right dpad inputs for selecting entries (edited)

PkR

I looked at it but it doesn't look like it's all of them, also I wanted to make patches for STG02

i did the object expansion in patterns file and texture name in texture name restores mod. unless there was another thing i missed

yeah that part was fine I think

oh god it was just a mistake I made when reversing byte order for pointers

14:08

original STG02 with patches applied externally still doesn't boot though

okay I'm slowly getting there

For 8C02E14A (UnkWV22), the latest excel says the fixed version is 8C02F5CA but in Speeps' STG02 it's 8C02F45C

The notes don't mention that the section at C904998 is nulled out

The instruction at C906642 is also nulled out

PkR

For 8C02E14A (UnkWV22), the latest excel says the fixed version is 8C02F5CA but in Speeps' STG02 it's 8C02F45C

For 8C0658EC (UnkWV23) the excel says it's 8C069A40 but the STG file has 8C069A4A

15:08

The byte at C907E9C is changed from 01 to 02

PkR

For 8C0658EC (UnkWV23) the excel says it's 8C069A40 but the STG file has 8C069A4A

For 8C0475C0 (FrameIn), the excel says the fixed version is 8C049660 but the STG file still has 8C0475C0. I'm guessing the change wasn't made because we didn't know this pointer yet.

15:19

In the excel, the fixed pointer for UnkWV11 (8C528FB0) displays as N/A and the comment says "nop'd this". According to the STG file, the pointer is replaced with 0C907DDA (edited)

at C911EDC, the byte 02 is replaced with 08, and at C911EEC there's a pointer to 0CAD4AB0/WINDY01 string (this area is null in original file). I'm guessing it's a PVM entry fix

15:27

okay looks like I've reached the end of file. Let's see how this works

PkR

at C911EDC, the byte 02 is replaced with 08, and at C911EEC there's a pointer to 0CAD4AB0/WINDY01 string (this area is null in original file). I'm guessing it's a PVM entry fix

same for 137A0 (C9A37A0), the value is changed from 02 to 08, and the pointer at 137B0 (C9A37B0) is to 0CAD4ABC/WINDY03 string

15:37

behold, it fucking works lol

will test a bit more but here's a working version that patches STG02 instead of replacing it

Windy_Valley.7z

1.11 MB

15:47

I think "Texture File Name Restores" for each stage should be incorporated into those stages' mods

i got a question regarding stg02

16:32

do we have any source filenames?

16:32

from the symbols i mean

16:32

and how much of the release version objects/source files are in bwv too?

16:33

im working on an auto-file boundary detector for making splitting new files a bit faster, and also as an experiment to learn rust lol

1

16:33

thought the previous idea i proposed about a bwv decomp could serve as a good test for it

16:34

thats why im asking

PkR

will test a bit more but here's a working version that patches STG02 instead of replacing it

Hmm ya know, we should probably just make a “restored levels”mod that does all levels, and work on it together

Exant

and how much of the release version objects/source files are in bwv too?

E103 lol

PkR

I think "Texture File Name Restores" for each stage should be incorporated into those stages' mods

i left this separate to have an easier time keeping track of their offsets in the case that anything else overwrites them or if they break something else. i won't object to them being moved into the stage mods themselves but doing it this way made testing easier.

PkR

Hmm ya know, we should probably just make a “restored levels”mod that does all levels, and work on it together

i think though this would make sense to do. how confident are we that the wv object limit increase doesn't break anything so far?

22:59

i forgot to do one for casinopolis when i uploaded the others also

Speeps

E103 lol

welp lol that means we'll have to come up with our own names i guess

23:22

atleast for the set object file stuff that should be fairly straightforward (edited)

I need to record Sand Hill this week, maybe I should fix up the E3 file too

23:37

the objects that thing used are in the autodemo so it can be loaded in that

woof

i think though this would make sense to do. how confident are we that the wv object limit increase doesn't break anything so far?

Tbh I don’t know if it’s good to have a hack line this. I wonder if I could make a simple config system to enable or disable parts of the mods. We can track the string offsets in a text file and include it in the mod

PkR

Tbh I don’t know if it’s good to have a hack line this. I wonder if I could make a simple config system to enable or disable parts of the mods. We can track the string offsets in a text file and include it in the mod

make the object limit changes toggleable as one thing in a mod that bundles all restored stages and assets, perhaps include toggleable autodemo enhancements within this mod for anything that restores content that was not included on the autodemo disc or differs from what it used (the final egg act 4 mod changing the start position to the position from act 6, the loose pvr lock-on mark texture in sky chase...)

Yeah maybe

1:21

I’m thinking I’ll have bool toggles where each toggled item is basically a separate mod.ini

it would be tidier that way maybe. even having many toggles would be fine so long as named properly

1:31

like just in terms of how many separate inis might end up in the mod folder

1:32

forgot if i mentioned, i checked in 1st_read on ghidra with more research labels and start positions with their data types assigned

You could put them in like mods/mymod/option1/option1.ini

Right now I'm thinking that each mod would be able to add "submods", which would show up on the mod list just the same, but the parent mod's entry would become collapsible and they'd be listed inside

that'd probably work

3:06

is the only known way to use the power up items like light dash still having to set sonic's action manually?

3:07

i'm reminded of it from a post in sa1 modding, i wanted to go find if there were item flags or something but if anyone already knows...

i thought for fun i could generalise the function to create task for bgm from the title screen but that only seems to be half of the solution... it's behaviour is to increment a byte until 0a, then it creates the task and starts playing the bgm. increments to 0b and every frame after skips creating the task. setting to 0a again at title restarts the bgm. i have that code generalised for supplying an adx id to a new byte in ram rather than it being specified in the function. it does it's loops and increments until 0b, but it doesn't play a song despite calling to InitBGMTask and to CreateSomeTask and to SendBGMID. maybe i am somehow skipping actually loading the afs? the function i wrote spans like 7 free areas of 1st_read already and it's a pain to look at

1:41

if i can make it work it should allow for writing adx id to the new byte to store it, then to call BGMGen and it should handle stack run it's code and clean up from stack and return. it would need to be called every frame. i just gotta keep debugging though

oh its worse than that, turns out it so far is working in flycast and not in demul

decided that was fun for learning but i have a different working method now and its nicer

1

i hijack the act specific init in a stage and jump to patch code inserted after the file. basic structure is set up to create a task with the BGM task, then pass the adx id in r4 to SendBGMID. everything under the pink line is setting up to preserve the original act init that i had to move here as well as restoring the PR from when we jumped here to resume the rest of act init properly

12:53

so i guess i am doing this for the rest of the stages that have music on the disc and then figuring out working with afs files again to insert music for stages that have no file on the disc as an optional extra

12:54

also do we need to announce the existence of this thread to people who weren't already in the private one lol

woof

also do we need to announce the existence of this thread to people who weren't already in the private one lol

I think it's fine not to announce it, it's visible so whoever is interested can find it on their own. Might be a better idea to keep it down to avoid noob questions in sa-modding and sa-tools

@Speeps idk if it was you who mentioned a while ago but do you know if there was a list of afs adx file ids used by the game to determine the maximum adx id?

16:15

i have sky deck creating the BGMTask and it can pass its now incorrect adx ids properly so i wanted to modify the afs file.. but it won't just play an id higher than 1c atm

ok, it goes up to id 1f despite the autodemo afs going up to 1c only. found the check for max id also through that

and increasing that only let me get to song id 0x23 at most..

here is that one, lost world next when i debug a crash more