In the end, I was forced to manually reset the 68000 processor so the map hack could continue.
Edit: it seems that the map hack has reset along with the 68000 processor, and is back at failing at the same spot: about maybe 3-4 half-screens down from the initial position, after the first (vertical) rotating gray cylinder. This is around the area where the Knuckles cutscene happens, if I am not mistaken.
Edit 2: It seems I was wrong and it went all the way through. After going over the level as described, however, hitting 'B' had no effect except if I left capslock on (that is, if I ignored step 20). And now I know why your maps do not have backgrounds too.Uff... it was quite a bit of work*, but I finally managed to get Gens maphack to work as I wanted! The first map is for Launch Base 1: here it is (warning: it is 0.97MB in size).
0100 01FF 0100 0202 0102 02FF 0100 0303
0103 03FF 0100 0404 0104 04FF 0100 0505
0105 05FF 0100 0606 0106 06FF 0100 0707
0107 07FF 0100 0808 0108 08FF 0100 0909
0109 09FF 0100 0A0A 010A 0AFF 0200 010B
FE010101 01FF 0102 0202 0202 02FF 0103 0303
0303 03FF 0104 0404 0404 04FF 0105 0505
0505 05FF 0106 0606 0606 06FF 0107 0707
0707 07FF 0108 0808 0808 08FF 0109 0909
0909 09FF 010A 0A0A 0A0A 0AFF 020B 0B0B
FE01The main reason I never did Launch Base, though, was because I couldn't figure out how to deal with the tileswapping for those inside/outside areas in an easy way.
1. Make a copy of your S3K ROM, and open that copy in a hex editor go to 0x01DB50, and replace [...] with [...] to prevent monitors from ever showing static.
2. Before dumping maps, enable graphics->layers->sprites->sprites always on top. This will cause rings and monitors and enemies to show even when they would normally be obscured by scenery.
By any chance, is there a similar hack for the big rings? Sure they are fewer and farther apart than monitors, but it would still help.
04000001020304050607F80C060B0A090804080808080808080808F80C0608080808Wow, VGMaps is a little short on Sonic maps compared to you guys now.
* Although I guess that 'sand' might be more appropriate than 'dust' in this case.
Hrm. For now, I think I will skip mapping Sky Sanctuary and go straight through to Death Egg. It turns out that those clouds are sprites, and will horribly pollute the map. Further, disabling the sprite layer they are on also disables all monitors and rings, defeating the purpose of the map. It there a way to disable those clouds? Maybe a way to edit the sprites to be totally transparent?
057BF6:4EF9
057BF8:0001
057BFA:ABB6My gut reaction was that it probably wouldn't save any time, because of the time that the boss takes to get low enough for it, but I tried anyway. With a slightly more optimized version of the ring grabbing (saving 6 frames), it actually saves a total of 70 frames -- enough that I could grab one less ring at the end, which will save a further frame on the score tally. Moreover, I put a memory watch on the boss' Y position and determined what was the best Y position to hit him the first time and get the two hits in the fewest frames possible, so that the kill is frame-perfect. So, thanks for the suggestion :-) Here is the updated WIP.
