Topic: Sonic 4 Maps

[Trinitronity]

Hello, I'm Trinitronity, and I'm looking for quite an odd request.
Basically, I'm looking for map rips (in PNG/JPG/etc. format) of the levels in Sonic 4 Episode 1 & 2.
I really need those for a personal project of mine, and I would be glad, if someone could help me out there.
Graphics do not need to be intact, since I only want the layout of the levels as well as the object placements in the levels.
Thanks in advance!

[Trinitronity]

I get the feeling that this forum is actually dead...
However, I really REALLY need those rips, so please, somebody help me already.

[Trop]

Which Sonic is Sonic 4 anyway?  What console?  Also Sonic is already on the request listing under series request.

[TerraEsperZ]

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was released on pretty much every console under the sun a few years ago. Episode 1 is apparently quite possible as there used to be a thread on the forums.sonicretro.org site where someone had managed to extract the graphics and the various blocks the levels are made of since everything is basically 2D. Unfortunately, that thread doesn't seem to exist anymore or at least, I can't find it. Episode 2 is mostly impossible unless you're the god of 3D hackers since the game is entirely 3D.

[Trinitronity]

Well, that's why I said that the map rips I would like to have do NOT need the graphics.
I only need the layout and object placements, which can just be colored shapes and nothing else. I don't need the graphics.

[Maxim]

How about we block all requests declaring a "need" for maps? If you need them so much, do it yourself - it's not hard.

[Trinitronity]

How about we block all requests declaring a "need" for maps? If you need them so much, do it yourself - it's not hard.

Except it is hard. If you claim it to not be hard, then prove it instead of flaunting around, being all talk and nothing else.

But seriously, if you don't want to help me, then please don't post in this thread and let people who want to help me do their job.

[Maxim]

Have you tried? It's not hard, it's time consuming. The whole idea that there's people out there waiting to get requests, and if you nag just a bit more then they'll dump dozens or hundreds of hours' work on you, is quite mistaken. You need your expectations to be managed way down.

[Trinitronity]

Have you tried? It's not hard, it's time consuming. The whole idea that there's people out there waiting to get requests, and if you nag just a bit more then they'll dump dozens or hundreds of hours' work on you, is quite mistaken. You need your expectations to be managed way down.

To be honest, I would have tried it only I knew how to do that. But I don't even know that. I don't even know the 1+1 of map ripping, that's how much of a noob I am...

[Trop]

It is actually insanely hard.  The reason there haven't been any new DKC3 maps is I lost a group of codes I was using and I've been killing myself trying to rehack them without success.  Of course I know nothing about 3D mapping beyond N64 and to show how out of the loop I am I didn't even know they had made a Sonic 4.  Also the stuff on the request list has been there forever and will never leave it.  Nobody here takes requests anymore.  Ten years ago I would have said video game mapping was going to grow into something huge like a lot of other video game things have.  But the truth is nobody cares.

[Revned]

This kind of conversation has popped up again and again for as long as this site has had forums. The truth is that mapping is so time consuming that (almost) no one is going to spend the effort to fulfill requests. They're going to map things that interest them personally. That's just the way it is, and newcomers to the site have always been a little surprised by it.

This has always been a niche site, but I definitely wouldn't say that nobody cares. Many of us have been here for 10+ years and are just as into it as ever.

[TerraEsperZ]

Revned's right. Us regular posters/mappers already all have our own pet projects that's occupying most of our free time and there's just no incentive to drop everything to fulfill the seemingly endless list of requests. Especially when the people asking have no idea how much work is entailed by even the simplest mapping project (NES, GB, etc), much less for a modern PC or console game.

Heck, I've got projects at various stages of completion for which there are requests, some of which have been lingering for years. Guess what? I'm not going to suddenly rush back to them just because someone asks for them again. That's not how I work. I know it might sound stupid, but mapping to me is a creative endeavour. If I'm not in the mood or don't have the mental energy for it, nothing will get done.  No matter how often you might ask, no matter if you were even to pay me for it.

[Maxim]

Hmm, maybe a forum mod to hide the requests forum from anyone who has ever submitted a map

On the basic level, mapping consists of (ignoring 3D games):

1. Take a screenshot
2. Take another screenshot
3. Line them up in an image editor (Paint will work)
4. Go to step 2 until you are finished

The hard part is being pixel perfect, and getting the parts you can't easily see in the game. If all you want is the layout, then you don't need to be so perfectionist about it.

[Trop]

Only you left out:
remove backgrounds / foregrounds
remove sprites
remove transparencies
freeze animations
capture backgrounds / foregrounds
modify backgrounds / foregrounds
reinsert backgrounds / foregrounds
capture sprite defaults
calculate sprite locations
reinsert sprites
capture transparencies
modulate transparencies
modulate transparencies
modulate transparencies
reinsert transparencies
align rooms
add text / map legend / ect

3D is even worse.  Ogre Battle 64 was super easy as far as 3D mapping went but I still had micro manage the hell out of everything.  I think most of the people who have made requests here have realized they're never going to be completed.

[Trinitronity]

If all you want is the layout, then you don't need to be so perfectionist about it.

If all I want is the layout, then I need to be especially perfectionist about it, because I want to recreate the layout of a Sonic 4 level in a different game, and I want to recreate the layout to a tee.

Also, the taking screenshots method may sound nice, but there's a problem: I only own Sonic 4 Episode 1, and only the Wii version, which I can only play on Dolphin. And whenever I play Sonic 4 on Dolphin, the game extremely lags. I cannot even play the game normally because of this, let alone taking screenshots of it for a layout to get stitched together.

I'm really hoping there exists a different method...like, actually ripping the collision data and somehow displaying it somewhere.