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July 2001 News

(7-27-2001)
  • SonED recieves a new update! Now you can also edit the tile art and mappings for Sonic 2 levels, right in the ROM! This provides much more versatility in creating your own customized levels. Another new feature is the ability for registered users to create PCX maps of the level they are currently editing. Check it out at the Organized Chaos homepage.

    While I'm at it, I thought I'd show you a bit of what SonED can do now. I started messing around myself, and re-implemented Wood Zone into the Sonic 2 final ROM, along with a bit of object and ring placement, and a slight addition to the level layout. Similar to the Hidden Palace hack by Brett Kosinski, though, the floors have some bad slope values, which comes from copying art without the ability to alter each tile's slope. (This can be avoided in your custom levels by drawing tiles with certain slopes over tiles that already have the same type of slope.) I may actually work on this later, but for the moment, you can see the bit of work I've already done here. Please read the text file for instructions on how to patch your oringinal file with the ones included in the zip, and enjoy!

    - Stealth

    (7-24-2001)
  • We are delighted to announce that SSRG has hit the 300,000 hit mark! We would like to thank all our viewers for letting us achieve this milestone. Sadly, this value was reached without us or anyone knowing before hand, so we do not know who the 300,000th visit is.

    - Andy

    (7-19-2001)
  • Ah, never fails. Whenever I'm working on something, someone else goes and announces that they want to do it too. Oh well.. If you don't know where this is going already, then here goes: SonED now supports level layout editing within the ROM! Yes, you can save your Sonic 1, Sonic 2, and Sonic 3 and Knuckles level layouts right in the ROM. You can also edit the player start positions to accomodate for the edited layout. You can get more details at the Organized Chaos main page.

    Also, I've got a couple of pictures drawn by our new artist for Chaos Adventures. Be sure to check them out and leave feedback on the messageboard.

    We're also trying to tidy things up a bit around here, so some of my time may be spent there as well as my own projects. I think you can safely look foreward to good futures for both Organized Chaos and the SSRG itself.

    - Stealth

    (7-18-2001)
  • Lexef haws asked me to post the following:

    Hello, Lexef here. My life's been a bit hectic recently.. I'm having a few problems at home (streached between divorced parents) plus, I'm on holiday for the next few weeks. I was hoping to update the hoaxes page
    with all your brilliant hoaxes that you've sent me (you may have noticed the page has been lacking) but Windows wont boot (I'm in Linux) and I cant get to them! What's more I dont have the time.. yet the installation disk to reinstall it so I'll have to recover what you sent me when I get back. I hope you lot can forgive me, I havn't been having
    a great life at the moment (I've had to drop many projects with other friends too =/). But fear not! I'll be back.. just gimmie a chance to sort my life out. In the meantime, I'm handing over the page to Tseng. Hopefully he'll update it with his email address which I currently dont have and you can send the hoaxes to him. If any hoaxes you sent me I
    havnt uploaded.. check the page soon and hopefully you'll have someone to send them to. When I'm back I plan to work with Tseng to replace the crappy design we have right now with somthing more up-to-date. Right now it's over to Tseng.



    As a result, Tseng (Ryu) will be in charge of the Hoax archive. Please send your hoaxes to him instead. His address is tsengrei@hotmail.com

    - Andy

  • In a 3-0 vote, the top brass at SSRG has decided to make SSRG an “invite-only” site once again. This decision was made after receiving hosting requests from people only interested in elevating their name in the Sonic hacking community while doing little or nothing in return. We have had people join the staff only to do some work for a few days and then later disappear. When asked where they have been, we get excuses. This will not be tolerated.

    As a result, all requests for hosting will now be ignored. If you want to be hosted on SSRG, establish a website on your own first. If we happened to come across it and like it, we will mail to you an invitation to join the SSRG staff.

    As for the want ads, many open positions have been elimination for reasons similar to above. The remaining positions are more of a “wish list” of ours more then a listing of openings. If you want a position, establish a site pertaining to the position you want and you might be hearing from us soon.


    - Andy

    (7-16-2001)
  • Hi everyone, Andy here. I would like to introduce the debut of a new section to SSRG: The Sonic 1 (GameGear) Hacking Guide. This new section is being headed by Weath and looks very promising. Give it shoot!

    - - Andy

  • A new feature will be added to SHWP hopefully by the next release. This has only been done in one other program, CHAOS. The Sonic 2 level editor will be able to save changes - IN THE ROM! And like CHAOS, the program will automatically relocate the level layouts to the end of the ROM. As an extra bonus, I will add (drumroll please)... OBJECT LAYOUT EDITING! I particularly find it annoying when I have to build levels around objects, especially when I can't see them onscreen. The Sonic 2 level editor will not only show objects on the level, but you'll be able to move them and change the object type! Check back for more information later.

    (Special thanks to Brett Kosinski for creating CHAOS and making it open source.)

    - Gerbil

    (7-14-2001)
  • Sonic HackingWiz Pro v2.00 is now available! It has many new/improved features, but the best part is the integration of S.L.E.E.P. (created by Tristan Penman)! The Sonic 2 level editor in SHWP cannot use tilesets written for S.L.E.E.P., but the tilesets for the S2LE are smaller than the S.L.E.E.P. tilesets. Plus, S2LE tilesets are made almost immediately after S.L.E.E.P. tilesets come out. Get SHWP with the new Sonic 2 level editor at my website.

    - Gerbil

    (7-12-2001)
  • I have finally gotten around to posting some new tilesets for SLEEP v0.8.6. They are Aquatic Ruin and Hidden Palace... yes, Hidden Palace saves do work in my editor!

    Hopefully someone can have a look at the HPZ from Sonic 2 final through my editor - you never know, some secrets could be uncovered.

    If you've made tilesets for SLEEP send them to me, whether or not you think they are good. Email me!

    - HKS

    (7-11-2001)
  • Sonic HackingWiz Pro v1.60 is coming out soon.

    The major update to SHWP is the integration of HKS's S.L.E.E.P. hacking utility. You can now edit Sonic 2 levels in savestates! Please note that S.L.E.E.P. v0.8.6 and the editor in SHWP use different tileset formats.

    Some other minor updates in v1.60 are:
    A bug in the special stage editors that caused it to crash when you changed the starting position has been fixed.
    The Sonic 3 & Knuckles playlist editor takes up less memory.
    The SMD -> BIN and BIN -> SMD conversion utilities have been combined into a single program, thus taking up less disk space and less memory.
    There were two "Super Sonic" entries in the S2 cheat code editor. I changed one to "14 Continues."
    Water palettes (Labyrinth Zone, Scrap Brain Zone Act 3) have been added to Sonic 1's palette editor.
    You can change the amount of rings needed for a perfect bonus in special stages.
    A new menu bar has been made.
    If you load an unknown ROM (i.e. invalid serial number) using the ROM hacking utility, it is sent to the Serial Number Restoration Utility.

    More features will probably be added before v1.60 is released.

    - Gerbil

    (7-4-2001)
  • Gerbil has accepted the task of continuing SLEEP, so that should be a part of his hacking util soon.

    I will continue to manage the SLEEP website with tileset resources but the download link will soon goto his site.


    - HKS

  • Just in case it was unclear, I am no longer doing any programming work on SLEEP. I now have a new webpage that will remain the same unless someone else takes over.

    I will accept any questions, etc. And, hopefully a few new tilesets will be released soon. I now at least one person is making their own already. Tell me if you are doing this and I will make them available on the 'time capsule' page.

    - HKS

    (7-3-2001)
  • I believe it's time I made another contribution. I'll start to pick up the slack once I remedy the problem with my system. Apparantly I was misinformed about what type of RAM the board could take, and that's why things (especially MSIE) cause it to freeze up alot.

    Anyway, I bring some odd news about SA2. Apparantly the chao porting (from SA1) is ALOT less than perfect. I tried to bring in a gold egg (before knowing that it would not stay gold, anyway..), and although the chao hatched, it was blue. Not only that, but after I turned away from him for about a minute and went back, his model was COMPLETELY screwed up. All the verteces on the polygons had been given insane values somehow, and apparantly he had become stuck that way. You can see pictures here here and here . Also, when that baby hatched, a different one did something sorta cute. I sat the eggshell down beside a different chao, and after I stopped panicking over the deformed baby, I turned around to find it wandering around with it on its head! Pictures here and here . This chao wasn't actually mine, and I had to find a way to get the eggshell off, because it was content just to stay in it. Apparantly, the only way was to hit it.. poor thing.. I had to do it when I found out that there wasn't any other way, at least not that anyone had heard of anyway.

    The chao in this game are surprisingly smart, and do alot of things. If you haven't already gotten it and like virtual pets, I really suggest that you give it a try.

    Also, how many have played the 3D rendition of Green Hill? It's amazingly addictive. I really wish they had done all three acts. If anyone would like to see at least one of the old Genesis/Megadrive games redone in this way as much as I would, send me an Email. If I get enough, maybe I'll foreward all the names of interested people to Sonic Team, just incase they aren't already planning to do it.

    - Stealth

  • Hello everybody, tails here. I would like to anounce that the ssrg sonic save state archive has been updated. I finaly finished the Genesis section. I added a sonic 3D blast section and a sonic 1,2,3 & knuckles section. Next i will try to get my hands on some SMS savestate and codes.

    - Tails

    (7-2-2001)
  • SLEEP is in it's closing days (sudden, huh?). A 'time capsule' website should be up soon. If anyone is interested in continuing on with my source code, just email me. And if you want to ask me anything feel free to do so.


    - HKS

  • Ten people have complained about the Chemical Plant tileset being done, so I will delay it a little longer. Their votes HAVE been counted. Remember, if you don't vote, you may be stuck with a tileset you absolutely loathe.

    SLEEP v0.8.6 is ready. Use it with care - don't destroy your Sonic 3k roms. Dat's all.

    - HKS

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