Questions about Damizean's Level Ripper

[ClassicSonicRules]

Hello,

I was introduced to Damizean's Sonic Level Ripper program recently. It is absolutely amazing! I have been trying to find out more about it, but to no avail. Now it appears that I am at the right place to get some info.

I have a few questions about the Level Ripper. These questions are mostly directed at Damizean, but if anyone else has any input concerning one of these questions, please post.

1. Is there some type of official page for the program where updates and such are posted?

2. Is a complete savestate library available that covers all of the supported games? The version of the level ripper that I have has many savestates, but it is not a complete set.

3. Can the Level Ripper somehow rip animated the backgrounds?

4. Will it ever support Knuckles' Chaotix for the Sega 32X?

5. What is the most current version of the Level Ripper?

Thank you to Damizean for making this wonderful program. Also, thank you to SkyLights for introducing me to it through rips other info.

[Midiman]

Erm

How the hell did you even find it? :\

[ClassicSonicRules]

Why? Am I not supposed to ask about it?

It is a long story who I found this, but If you really want to know... I found some background sheets by SkyLights at The Spriter's Resource that referenced the Level Ripper. I REALLY like Genesis Sonic backgrounds, so I did a little web search for the ripper. I found the program, but no info on where it came from. After a more web searching, I found more references to it and finally ended up here.

I hope that I am not breaking any rules. Since there is no documentation with the program, I would just like to find out more about the project.

[DimensionWarped]

I do believe I can think of at least one rule you are breaking.

[Swift]

I do believe I can think of at least one rule you are breaking.

Well maybe it'd be more helpful if you pointed out which one rather than just posting a pointless assumption.

[ClassicSonicRules]

Yes, please let me know what it is. I am sorry if I am breaking a rule. As you should be able to tell, I am new and I haven't really an idea how this place works. All I would like is more info. Sorry.

[Spike]

I do believe I can think of at least one rule you are breaking.

Care to elaborate? I don't see anything wrong here.

[Smidge204]

Funny, I can't think of one... and I wrote them.

=Smidge=

[Kain]

[/]1. Is there some type of official page for the program where updates and such are posted?[/i]

I'm pretty sure Dami has no official page, which makes finding his old work particularly hard (probably why Midi's surprised you even have it). However, I think Dami made that program for a particular purpose and it served its purpose, so I wouldn't hold my breath too long for updates.

2. Is a complete savestate library available that covers all of the supported games? The version of the level ripper that I have has many savestates, but it is not a complete set.

I believe all the games the Ripper works on have a Level Select mechanism which you could google for. Just use that to get to the zone/act you want and save the state yourself using Gens or some other emulator.

3. Can the Level Ripper somehow rip animated the backgrounds?

I may be wrong, but I'm 90% sure that all the games in question do not really have animated backgrounds. Instead, they use palette effects and horizontal/vertical scrolling to appear animated. Since the ripper takes the palette from the save state, saving states at consecutive frames in the animation will work, although it'd be extremely tedious.

4. Will it ever support Knuckles' Chaotix for the Sega 32X?

I think this has an answer, but I forget what it was.

5. What is the most current version of the Level Ripper?

Probably the one you're using.

[Slingerland]

Funny, I can't think of one... and I wrote them.

=Smidge=

DW thought that ClassicSonicRules was Classic Team (Mygames19), but the IPs don't match and CSR's spelling and grammar is leagues above CT's trainwreck of English.

Carry on.

[Zenor]

Animated backgrounds? No. if you try to rip a level like Metallic Madness, you'll just get 1 frame of everything. Like, the rotating lights and stuff. Other things are just rotating palettes(,,,,,[green][dark green][black],,,,,[black][green][dark green],,,,,[dark green][black][green],,,,, , something like)

[ClassicSonicRules]

DW thought that ClassicSonicRules was Classic Team (Mygames19), but the IPs don't match and CSR's spelling and grammar is leagues above CT's trainwreck of English.

Carry on.

Thank you. I read the rules, and I did not think that I was breaking any of them. Thanks for clearing that up.

2. Is a complete savestate library available that covers all of the supported games? The version of the level ripper that I have has many savestates, but it is not a complete set.I believe all the games the Ripper works on have a Level Select mechanism which you could google for. Just use that to get to the zone/act you want and save the state yourself using Gens or some other emulator.

Since the Level Ripper already has a incomplete set of really good savestates, I figure that I would see if that set has been completed. Additionally, savestates for lost levels such as the Dust Hill one cannot, to my knowledge, be ripped without hacking. (Which is something that I have no clue how to do.) Hopefully, Damizean has been able to finish the set since the last release.

3. Can the Level Ripper somehow rip animated the backgrounds?

I may be wrong, but I'm 90% sure that all the games in question do not really have animated backgrounds. Instead, they use palette effects and horizontal/vertical scrolling to appear animated. Since the ripper takes the palette from the save state, saving states at consecutive frames in the animation will work, although it'd be extremely tedious.

Animated backgrounds? No. if you try to rip a level like Metallic Madness, you'll just get 1 frame of everything. Like, the rotating lights and stuff. Other things are just rotating palettes(,,,,,[green][dark green][black],,,,,[black][green][dark green],,,,,[dark green][black][green],,,,, , something like)

It crossed my mind that the savestates only capture one frame. I am in no way sure how the inner workings of these savestates function, so I didn't know if there was some type of animation data stored in the savestate or not. Maybe if I can figure out the order of animation, I can swap the palettes and animate them that way.

Thank you all for helping me understand this thing. If Damizean can give me a definite word on if the savestate collection has been completed, what the most current version is, and the Chaotix support, I think that I will have all of my questions answered for now. Thank you again.

[Zenor]

it takes the 1st frame, so you won't take more than that of everything =/

[Damizean]

Sorry for not answering before. Everything Kain said is pretty much the answer. I made that program long ago for ripping levels for my old defunct project called gpSonic. However, due my noobness back then and the lose of the source code, I couldn't complete any further the ripper. Anyway, it's pretty much based on the Sonic savestate hacking guides out there, so it's not a big deal. As you suspect, the program reads the graphical information and mappings layout from a savestate, hence it's only one frame.

In reply to one of your answers, there's no finished collection of savestates, as you can make your own with any genesis emulator that supports .gsx savestates. Any Sonic game or hack that uses the standard memory layout and structure should work. For example, I got the Dust Hill one from the S2 Long Version hack by Sonic Hachelle-Bee.

As for animation, I suspect tile animation is hardcoded into the game code, thus not able to be retrieved from a savestate. In any case, I wasn't even going to add animation support, most animation is done by palette rotating; but if you need tile graphics, they might be stored on the VRAM tiles dump (8x8 tiles).

The Knuckles Chaotix support wasn't added because there wasn't many information about it back then, and neither there is now :/ If you ever need any information about savestates hacking, you can always check out the Sonic Retro wiki. The ripper's is mostly based on Nemesis' work.

Hope this helps.

[ClassicSonicRules]

Yes, that was a great help! Thank you.

It is too bad that you lost the source code, it is a very nice program.

Thanks for explaining about the savestates. I will have to find out about this S2 Long Version hack and get some savestates.

After taking another look at how some of the Sonic backgrounds are animated, I see that in most cases it is just the palette that changes. (I hadn't noticed that until you guys pointed it out.) So, I guess it would be a little bit of work to get them animated.

Too bad about Knuckles' Chaotix. I guess Chaotix/32X is a little overlooked though. Thanks for the link. I will check it out.

Thank you so much for informing me about this program. It is one of the nicest/most useful Sonic utilities that I have run across.

[CrypticSailor]

I've said this 1000 times... Dami pwns :] And I know who you can consult about the animated backgrounds: Cinos!(I'll ask him when I can get on AIM/not on duty). He's making a *really* badass Sonic 1 hack(even added new abilities and saving to the thing x__x)