Which I can't, but vanilla is a great test of creativity.

I'm surprised there's THAT much free space, though, given the exhaustive amount of work Nintendo put into compressing the game in the first place.

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Just to tack on to what Thanatos-Zero is saying: what KK needs more than anything are graphic designers. Obviously, he himself is a more than capable assembly junkie, so no help needed in that regard...and I'm one of his level designers, so I can assure that all stage layouts will be completed with expedience on my part.

Graphics are the major concern, though, and the sole reason that progress has been so slow lately. Anyone that can help with this should respond in this thread or PM Kujakiller.

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Insect, is that hack available for download anywhere? I'd like to give it a whirl, if that's okay (especially since you posted a discrepancy between who the better programmer is and mentioned this author's name).

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Oh, I remember your videos of that hack now, Insect. I think I just forgot about it because hardly anyone else has said or posted anything about it.

I wonder if the hack will just be a boss rush or if he'll add actual stages later...

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Posted by Googie

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I'm just curious, did anyone ever made a sprite list for SMB3?

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What sort of sprite list are you looking for, exactly? :o

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Posted by zbyte

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Mineyl, How is your "Mario in the Curious Kingdom" and Mario Dreamscape going?

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I haven't worked on either in quite a while, and I've canceled Mario in the Curious Kingdom because it really woulda' been a bit too unfair. Puzzle-based levels like that are much easier to pull off in Super Mario World, and I think I'll be leaving that kind of design to people like Lechuck and Worldpeace.

As for Dreamscape, I've been waiting for Reuben and entertaining myself with other projects in the meantime. If Reuben doesn't show soon, though, I'll probably end up having to port the entire hack over to a clean ROM because I encountered some bugs that even DahrkDaiz said were strange and asked if I'd done any kind of assembly alterations...which I can't do because I don't know much about 6502 other than a few basic commands, though I did alter some hex in the ROM to get rid of the annoying flicker in the upper left of the status bar.

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I used Dungeon Master for the dungeon and (attempted to use) Zelda Tech for the overworld. I found Dungeon Master a much easier program to utilize, but dungeons themselves are much easier to edit in general.

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Final Fantasy Mystic Quest back in '92, bitches! B)

Damn, I'm getting old.

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Yeah...I wish Reuben could see the light of day, but alas.

And I'm actually not having any of those problems with SMB3, Zbyte. Here's the list I composed many months ago and posted somewhere on this board:

Posted by Mineyl

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As for technical difficulties... I've just been seeing a lot of weird stuff happen while designing the latter half of world 2 and touching up older stages. Just a few things:

- The angry sun and infinite goombas require a specific object in order to be displayed correctly in a level. This object must be set first or it will cause all objects placed before it to be erased, for some reason... This was actually the reason I stopped working on the hack before reviving it back in September: I couldn't figure out what the hell was going wrong and I assumed that these two sprites only worked when used on levels with specific pointers. I later found out that the object required is labeled "Nothing" in SMB3 Workshop and is object $0E in bank 2. Lack of information FTW.

- Boomerang brothers don't function correctly when placed near ? blocks and smashable bricks. The coins can cause sprite overload, making the bro delay his throws, and sometimes, hitting one of these blocks will kill the bro no matter where he is on screen.

- Hammer brothers seem to need to be placed on the bottom half of a level or they will jump through the floor.

- Fire snakes cause a lot of sprite overload. I can't get more than two to show up on screen at once.

- When the player enters the second half of 2-5 (via pipe) in my hack, Mario assumes the "sliding" pose (think original 1-5) after coming out. I have no explanation for this.

- The very first Rocky Wrench in my world 1 airship level, if not killed immediately, will mysteriously vanish and cause weird glitches in the level. It can sometimes cause Raccoon Mario to spontaneously generate extra lives from interacting with the bob-ombs a few screens later, and if I stand on top of that first Rocky Wrench and let him disappear, Mario is instantaneously shot very high off-screen. Moving the RW down one block fixed the problem, but it's still inexplicably weird.

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As you can see, I've already addressed some of these things (and you linked the cause of the Rocky Wrench oddity in your post). The items outlined in red are the ones that are giving me real trouble.

All in all, it's not a huge deal, but I really would like to at least know why these things are happening before I continue.

EDIT: Silly me, if I'd bothered to scroll a few posts down from the original message, I'd see that you already responded to this list of mine back then.

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Posted by zbyte

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I was referring to Mario in the Curious Kingdom as well...

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Well, the thing about that hack is that it would get repetitive and unfair. I mean, all games are repetitive when you get right down to it, but I have a certain fear that I wouldn't be able to flesh out the puzzles enough to keep it interesting in spite of that unfair difficulty.

One of the big differences between puzzle design in SMW and SMB3 is that SMW has a lot of extraneous gimmicks that can be used, whereas SMB3 has a lot of different power-ups. In SMW, it would generally be nothing to include a reset pipe (as well as an ASM hack to make Mario small at the start of every level), but in SMB3, these things aren't possible because a reset pipe or door could potentially screw up your puzzle by allowing the player to re-obtain an item box he used up earlier (if you'll recall my video, the ultimate solution to the puzzle was to make your way to a pipe in order TO reset the power-up block containing a super leaf).

Needless to say, I also lack the necessary assembly skills to make Mario small at the start of every stage (though in all honesty, it doesn't sound like it would be hard to implement at all...just a simple if > then check upon level load).

Posted by zbyte

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Yeah. Place the Hammer Brother in the middle of you three objects that he could land on. If he's in the very bottom half of the level, then there'd be no way he could fall through the floor. A similar kind of glitch related to the Boomerang Brother issue exists in 4-3; in a few instances, you could bump a nearby brick and kill a spiny. Nothing's really wrong if a Boomerang Brother delays his throws; it could actually add a trivial challenge to the level. If you really want to stop it, try removing some coins. As for Mario's position after he exits the pipe, simply change the exit pipe to an upside-down pipe, and change the entrance pipe if you wish. Again, it doesn't really matter at all. In fact, individual videos and interest may spawn showcasing that glitch in you wonderful SMB3 hack. Take your pick?

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Meh. :b I try to keep all of my stuff as glitch-free as I can. That's why these problems bother me more than they should. Thank you for the advice, though; I'll be taking it.

Posted by zbyte

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At least you didn't do that purposely (I hope)...

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Nah, of course not, but I couldn't delete my post so I just tacked the edit message onto the end of it instead.

By the way, has there been any discussion about the usage of certain features of SMB3 that allow the player to reach more levels than just the one pointed at in the level header? A good example of this is in 1-5, where the invisible note block takes Mario to coin heaven, but the pipe at the end of the stage takes him to the end of the world level instead. It sounds like it'd be really handy to abuse this feature, since I only used the header and pointers for my hack before (I'd really like to flesh out my hack as much as possible, and I'll probably go back and make all of my old levels longer 'cause I believe short stages are one of vanilla SMB3's only true flaws).

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Posted by Thanatos-Zero

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Grit your teeth Kuja Killer!

Goddamn why don't you ****ing try to make a skelett for the level first?
Perhaps we might get a idea how we should design the tiles for that level.
If you are going to built a house, you need to built first a foundation before you can continue on it!

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The layout of the level has actually been done for months, put together by yours truly. I don't think it'll really help you with making the graphics, though.

It's just standard Megaman fare without any inclines or anything fancy like that.

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Posted by zbyte

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I don't know. Maybe a gimmick where Mario would have to go through two Thwomps? Then he'd be normal. Eh...

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I've thought of making a section where Mario would have to walk through an enemy to progress, reverting him to his previous form...but the problem is that it's very hard (probably impossible) to make a route that small Mario can access that his other forms can't thanks to duck-jumping. A one-tile row with munchers on the ceiling, maybe, but I don't believe muncher graphics can be upside-down in Mario 3...so that'd look awful.

Posted by zbyte

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http://acmlm.no-ip.org/board/thread.php?pid=133172#133172

Read on from there.

All levels allow you to go to at least two levels: the level designated in the header and the pipe that was claimed to ignore pointers. Level types like Underground, Giant, and Cloud levels contain a pipe that says "[Upward or Rightward] Pipe to End of level" that takes you to a level specified, as explained in those posts. So some levels could have 3 different destinations.

Hey, I remember you logging in and viewing the thread when this stuff was posted. What's going on? It's a good idea to read all the new things that get posted in this thread. Maybe you could try to remember the number of replies and find out which ones were new?

I suggest that you ask one of the major ASM guys out there and they'll help you understand ASM better. I Hope continuing your SMB3 hack goes well for you! Anything you're interested about, post it!

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Good to know. I'll take these things into consideration when I start working with my hack again.

Also, I guess I've just forgotten all this stuff. I'm getting older and there's a lot of stuff I have to keep track of these days, so my memory isn't as good as it used to be. xD

And I'll probably stay out of the assembly unless there's something I just HAVE to have in my hack. I'd like my game to stay as vanilla as possible while updating the graphics and level design.

If I get curious about anything else, I'll be sure to post!

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I think you should edit the thread title to include the names of the two hacks, if that's possible.

Also: much YAY will be had. *downloads*

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All right. I've given Luigi's Chronicles 2 a good play, and I'm up to the beginning of world 4 now.

I'm thinking of writing a bit of a review for it once I clear the game, but I'm not sure if I should or not. While I do have good things to say about the hack, I find that I have many more negative criticisms to fire off just because I'm a design fanatic and even some of the smallest things jump out at me when they probably shouldn't...though rest assured that most everything I can think of is quite valid.

I dunno', what do you guys think? I realize that we, as ROM hackers, dump our time, hearts, and souls into our projects and the last thing we want to read is any kind of rejection by our audiences. I don't want you to think I'm trying to slander your work or anything, but everything negative I will mention will be for the good of making this an even better hack than it already is (though if the hack will no longer be worked on, then it'll serve to give new players fair warning of what they're about to experience).

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Is that Ulti I spy?

Anyway, it's been a good long while since I've played a new SMW hack. Maybe I'll give this one a whirl sometime soon!

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Posted by Maxwell

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No :/ I borrowed one of his really old avitars. I didn't think anyone would even know because it was from so long ago. I guess you win a cookie

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Well, your username has "Max" in it, so that coupled with the avatar...yeah. :3

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I wonder if there is a more appropriate place for a thread like this than in the ROM hacking section...

Anyway, I've tried to get excited about this, but I just can't. The high resolution of the game is so incredibly off-putting to me that it hurts to even look at it. Odds are that I'd play it myself and find tons of inconsistencies with the games it tries to emulate (as I'm already doing just by watching your videos), as well, which would make me want to stay away from it even more.

That said, it'd probably do well with a bit of tweaking and being lowered back down to the 256 x 224 (240) resolution of the SNES. It'd certainly make it feel more authentic, and when it comes to ripping off successful IPs, authenticity is everything to me.

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I'm more than willing to do all the level designs (in fact, I'd probably have well over half the game's stages designed already if Kuja would let me go ahead and do that). Let me take care of that; you guys do graphics because graphics are seriously the ONLY hindrance here and are the reason the hack has been on ice so long.

But guys, should you really be showing all these things off in this thread? I think some of this stuff should remain a surprise (especially the Necroman stage layout, since I purposely named it something nondescript so no one would know what it was).

Posted by Megaman-Omega

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Sigh...I hate having to ask this but I have no choice anymore.

We need help with the level design...As it currently stands I've been doing both the graphics and the level design thus far...but it's gotten too much....I can't just sit down design graphics, plan their limits, and think about their possibilities in the level all at the same time...

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I've already told Kuja numerous times that I'll design whichever stages he wishes, even if it's the entire rest of the game. You probably shouldn't concern yourself with level design anymore unless you make some odd graphics that you intend to be used a certain way.

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@GreyMario: Looks decent! You may want to change the way the slope junctions with the wall around 0:59, though. Otherwise, the player can stand on the edge of the slope and walk in front of it in its current arrangement (therefore falling to death needlessly here; or, if it occurs later in the level, they may be able to get somewhere they're not supposed to).



The other level of my vanilla hack that I failed to show off earlier. The project is canceled now, so I figured there was no more reason to maintain the element of surprise.

And no, the music isn't part of the actual game (much to my dismay).

I'm thinking of starting a new project...

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Posted by Maxwell

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Oh god Mineyl, all of your levels are amazing. It's a shame that you're cancelling the project (for all I know it could have been cancelled awhile ago and I would have missed that) but I guess that gives you a fresh start.

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Yeah...unfortunately, it was canceled a while ago. I didn't come forward with an obvious announcement, though, so most people probably didn't realize it back then.

Thing is, my level design has been influenced a lot by what many other vanilla hackers have churned out lately, and I've come to realize that that's just not me. I've tried to step back and take a nice, long look at what made my original stages so good (the ones from my SMB3 hack, that is) in order to once again get back into my own style of things rather than using the godly powers of Lunar Magic to add far more decoration to a stage than could ever be necessary in the first place (I actually owe it to GreyMario's "drunken earth god" comment for making me realize this in the first place).

Posted by Maxwell

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Also, I'd like to compliment on your gameplay style. I could look away xD It was mesmerizing

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Why thank you. xD It's just the byproduct of testing each stage 9001 times.

Posted by Maxwell

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Also, you could insert the music with MSU1... but then I guess it wouldn't be vanilla anymore :/

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I'm actually extremely opposed to this new MSU1 thing. I think that if ROM hacking is going to evolve to the point that it regularly incorporates obvious new-age technology that would not be possible on the original hardware, then it defeats the spirit of the ROM editing practice. You might as well code your own (potentially superior) gameplay engine and spare yourself all the bugs and limitations of antiquated technology.

That being said, it would be nice to have this music in there for real. Maybe one day, I'll teach myself how to port music and convert all these tunes properly.

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