Super Mario: The Golden Star

[Atrius (He/Him)]

The problem with most of that is that as long as his edit is created from the same broken ROM as he's now using as his unmodified ROM for creating patches from, none of the broken parts of the original ROM would be in the patch.  A patch only contains the data that has been changed, so something has to be different from his unmodified ROM that is causing these problems.

I've done a quick check of the changes the patch contains, but nothing has jumped out at me so far.  There are no changes to the boot code for the game, or the audio data as far as I can tell so far.  I'm still looking for any signs that the editor might have been involved, but so far I haven't found anything that would suggest so.

...trying to move them onto barrels of apples would make the editor crash)

Is that the bug I fixed in the second fix release, or a new one?  If it's a new one, why haven't you reported it yet?

[Salanewt]

I thought that someone else may have reported it, but I downloaded the fixed version right after you released it on the same day as the original 0.3. I would have reported it if I had known that nobody else did (and I am still not sure actually). The fixed version completely replaced the original 0.3, so it is likely a new bug. I might as well file a report right now, while I am on.

Thanks for taking a look at that stuff for me Atrius, I really appreciate it.

Have a nice day.

[Salanewt]

And with my new post, I upload my latest patch! Not much has really changed since the last version, aside from the fact that you can jump now. After I gave charleysdrpepper a message that Atrius had sent to me, he was kind enough to write the code that I needed to allow Jumping to work. His patch is available in the Downloads section, if you want it. I will also tell others how to add jumping to a seasoned hack (one that has already had plenty if information changed), if it is requested.

Notes: One can fall from very high heights, and one can jump up the height of two cliffs (like the one on the northern side of E Tundaria Isle). You currently press the B button to jump once. Holding it will enable running, and pressing it again will let you jump again. Debug Menu is activated, so you can warp to different rooms and walk through everything if necessary. Savestates are still required to be able to play the game. Peach CAN NOT jump! It should be quite possible to fix this, but I am not too keen on letting Peach jump like Mario yet.

Future Plans: Make Jumping performed with A button instead of B. Add a sound effect to it. Replace DK with Mario, replace Bowser with Daisy. Let Yoshi join the party on Yoshi's Island. Add a new location to Yoshi's Island (on the world map). Change text on more items. Fix the "savestate required to play" problem. Replace Peach with Luigi.

What I need: Not really important, but I would like it if some of you could record some things for me. Namely, enemies that are too tough, and places that you can get stuck in if you fall down and can't leave without the debug menu/Retreat. Falling down and being able to jump out is something that can be recorded as well, but I am not too concerned with this quite yet (as when the time comes, I am going to replace pretty much all of these maps).

If you run into any problems, please tell me. Also, if you do the moving iceberg puzzle on E Tundaria island, would you please be so kind as to jump from chunk to chunk? If you are unable to do this, you may go ahead and jump up the cliff. However, it kind of kills the new challenge.

Patch and savestate have been attached.

Edit: A video is in order.

[Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas]

I downloaded the IPS, and I have isolated the problem. (Thanks to a program IPSelect.)

The problem is at 0x0C8000-0x0C800B, if you uncheck that in IPSelect, and patch, you should be able to Load the ROM without the savestate.

I'm a bit confused as to what that is.... Edit: Actually, it is Thumb Assembly... not sure what it effects, though.)

[Atrius (He/Him)]

M'kay, after looking over things, and recalling having previously noticed that the original ROM you started working from wasn't a clean one, here are my suggestions.

1) Download the fixed version of the patch below.
2) Find a clean version of the ROM
3) Apply the fixed patch to the clean ROM
4) Take the unclean ROM, put it in front of a firing squad, read it it's final rights, and... Er...  No, delete it, just delete it.  Every last copy of it.  Create patches of any current projects you're working on, and apply them the clean ROM in order to cleanse them.  The disease that is the unclean ROM won't be transferred if you use it as the unmodified ROM to create the patch from.


Also, notice the difference in free space in the fixed version.  (The value in KB displayed at the top right of the editor)

[Salanewt]

Excellent, thank you for the patch! Now that it works without savestates, I can focus on getting more done again. Also, that is certainly quite a bit of space (I think). Okay, so to list my priorities for the next version.

[spoiler=Priorities]
1. Switch DK/Felix with Mario/Isaac (overworld sprite)
2. Rename more items/enemies, make more items/enemies accessible during gameplay.
3. Get Jump to work with a press of the A button, instead of B.
4. Reorganize party members; make the first to join into Mario and Luigi, and Toad as a spare until a new event can be made for him.
5. Alter elemental levels and base classes, rework all existing classes, add new classes for party 2.
6. Unless too difficult, try to change the palettes used for certain areas.[/spoiler]

I may or may not go for all of them before the next release. However, I am aiming for the first four at least.

Edit: I suggest to those who play the game that they use 03001238:01 as a cheat when playing this hack. Because of the new ability to fall from greater heights, you may fall into areas that you can not jump out of. There is also a chest in Venus Lighthouse that can not be reached now.

[Rolina]

That last part sala?  That's why I don't want it in the dimensional rift hack.  If we miss something, it'll be game breaking.  It's safer not to risk it, and leave the jumping to hacks that are specifically designed around it.

As for the party memebers... look into using my templates.  They should help a lot for the organization, and you'll easily be able to assign who gets what classes in a nice organized manner.

[Salanewt]

That is true, for the Dimensional Crisis hack. Careful design could get around it though, such as using scripted tiles that prevent falling. Still, we shall see what everyone thinks for that. It currently looks like Jumping will not get in though, but we do have Hover for certain circumstances.

Thanks, I might take a look at them shortly. However, I mainly meant that I would work on switching the overworld sprites for that (but I did not make it very clear, now that I look at it again). Still, the templates will probably be helpful for class changing as well.

[Rolina]

The biggest problem I see is that they're still basically Mario Jumps.  The average person could only really jump half their height - so it's more sensible just to program in climbing and 'hopping down' via just pushing in that direction, you know?

[Salanewt]

That makes sense, but the jumping height can be decreased if necessary, and the falling height could probably be reduced to what it normally is, or else it is just raised slightly. For example, Dimensional Crisis would only allow about 1/4 of the height shown in that video, if it is allowed at all. I have it set at that high right now because, well, this is a Mario hack. Climbing would probably be much better, but then we get to the Action Command problem. Unless it is universal, it can seem quite illogical to the average player to allow something in one location without allowing it elsewhere.

Anyway, this is the topic to discuss the Mario hack that I am working on. If we are to discuss anything about jumping in Dimensional Crisis, I would like to keep it to the topics about that hack.

[Rolina]

Got it.  There are ways to get around that 'action command' thingy by making them automatic, like pushing and horizontal jumping, but Atrius'd be better at explaining it than I would.

[Salanewt]

I kind of see it working in a similar way to ledges in Pokemon, actually. A specific script is awarded to certain tiles, and they can only be activated when walking in one direction. Instead of jumping down, it would play an animation as the player "climbs" up. However, Atrius can probably tell us about the possibility.

Anyway, I am probably going to release a patch of my Mario hack within the next few days. I would like it if I could have some volunteers to play through the game and tell me if there are any painful spikes in difficulty, or if some areas become easier/more difficult with jumping. Not much info is needed, point form will do.

As for the "Sweet Kiss" ability that Peach can use, I think I will make it stronger because of her joining your party later in the game. I am also going to work on changing the elements a bit. For example, Mars becomes Fire and so forth. Maybe, Mercury to Wish, Jupiter to Storm, and Venus to... um... Earth? I shall think more about this later.

[Rolina]

Well, you and me have the same idea here.  As long as we code in the maps that those are the climbable ledges (don't want people climbing onto rock debris! D:), then we should be golden.

[Aile~♥]

Although, we'll have to make ALMOST all ledges jumpable/climbable, so we don't end up with fridge logic like "how come I can jump up THIS ledge and not up that ledge over there?"

[Salanewt]

That would be the idea, but only for a certain height. Unless they are walls with holds, most people can only climb up small walls without tools. However, this Mario hack already has jumping.

Also, now that I have jumping, I have decided to continue at a later date. If anyone wants jumping in their hacks, I shall post a short tutorial on how to manually import charleys' code, as well as how the height can be adjusted (if he is okay with the guide).

[Rolina]

Easy solution - ledges you cannot climb/jump are at least twice as high (read:  As tall as the PC sprite).  For the Mario hack, I suggest following the same principle:  If you cannot jump there, it's twice the height of a jump from the tallest ledge near it.

[Salanewt]

That sounds like a good principle. Unfortunately, I can not fix that yet... I am definitely keeping it in mind though. Speaking of jumping, do you have any suggestions for sound effects? I plan on using something similar to the Mario games, but downplayed a bit.

[Rolina]

There's already a sound for that.  It's exactly what you want, too.

[Atrius (He/Him)]

Right, the existing jump sound effect for jumping across small gaps.

[Salanewt]

Hey, I have a quick request for either Charon or Jamie. Could one of you please split this topic? The first post of the new topic should be http://forum.goldensunhacking.net/index.php?topic=570.msg19085#msg19085, and I would like it to keep the name that it has now. I have two reasons for splitting this topic:

1. The first few posts are about Disco Sun, the previous hack.

2. I have decided to start up Disco Sun again, as well as to continue with this Mario hack. That should pretty much leave me at 3 personal hacks and 3 2 1 active community project anyway, so I should have enough time to do some work on this occasionally.

Great, thanks in advance!


As for the Mario hack, I will try to have an update on it this month. Thanks to charleysdrpepper's Jump code, this is a bit closer to being Mario themed. However, I have also decided to ditch Daisy, DK, and Bowser. Because of this, there will probably only be five (or maybe six) useable characters. Unfortunately, I am starting to run low on ideas for this, so... yeah...