Botanic Serenity v2.0, Part 1 (sc_botanicserenity-v2.wad)

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Digiku

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Welcome to Botanic Serenity Version 2.0! This favored NiGHTS level allows you to play as Super Sonic in a world consisting of aerial acrobatics, colorful gardens, and involved exploration. Enjoy the expansive, detailed world as you soar through the skies -- released four years ago and now updated to work with SRB2ME!

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As Super Sonic, your goal is to collect rings, paraloop wings, and follow the way of the hoops, in order to destroy Dr. Eggman's nefarious Egg Capsules and make it back to the temple. When you have finished flying in the air, you can walk leisurely through the garden as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. You're free to admire the flowers and the fountains, and revel at the beautiful, detailed scenery -- the first of its kind. You may even find a few Chaos Emeralds along the way!

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Botanic Serenity was released four years ago for SRB2 v1.09.4, renowned for introducing subsequent fanmade NiGHTS levels, as well as raising the bar for more visually complex environments. Its inspiration came from SRB2's "Spring Hill Zone" and the game "NiGHTS into Dreams."

NEW FEATURES

This release constitutes Part 1 of a 2-part release, consisting of the main level, the emerald hunt, and "The Perception." Changelog:
  • Botanic Serenity is fully updated for SRB2ME!
  • The level got a new facelift! It looks much richer and more colorful, thanks to Rob and SpiritCrusher.
  • The emeralds are rearranged! Find them all to unlock "The Perception."
  • There's new music, thanks to Neo Chaotikal! Also, find the in-game jukebox to enjoy a small library of NiGHTS tunes...
  • Performance is improved! Botanic Serenity Version 2 performs similarly to BSZ v1 Mid-End, while retaining the visual complexity of High-End. Try it out!
  • Continuous links are now possible! Link together wings, rings, and hoops to come up with a high score! (seriously, I want to see some "Perfect Links" videos ;)
  • Co-op is now supported! Fly the land with your friends, or have fun playing co-op Hide-n-Seek! (But Match/Tag HNS are not supported /yet/. Stay tuned!)
Part 2 will be coming soon, with a new emblem hunt, a new boss, and Match/Tag support, thanks to Prime 2.0 and akirahedgehog!

Version 2.0 CREDITS

  • Digiku - Main porter
  • Rob - Main porter, graphics artist, world landscaper
  • Prime 2.0 - Boss SOC-cer
  • Kaysakado - SOC porter
  • SpiritCrusher - World landscaper
  • akirahedgehog - World landscaper, graphics artist
  • Neo Chaotikal - Music
  • Torgo - Texture porter
 

Attachments

  • sc_botanicserenity-v2.zip
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I don't quite now what to say now. I guess most of us can agree that Botanic Serenity is one of the best and most important levels in the history of SRB2 modding, and I feel honored to have participated in the creation of this port. I'm really proud of what we've achieved, and I'm looking forward to Part 2 (which, unlike Part 1, will be just as new to me as to everyone else).

On a slightly related note, is there any specific reason why the emblem locations in the MAINCFG are complete nonsense? I know there aren't supposed to be any emblems in Part 1, but why didn't you just take them out? Or is Part 2 supposed to completely replace Part 1 once it's out?
 
Ok, why isn't this in the hall of fame? I'm serious.

Let's See:

Botanic Serenity

Pros:
Beautiful;
Well placed emeralds;
Wonderful level to play;
Awesome Record Player;
Incredible and Nostalgic Overall!

Cons:
Slight Lag
It's not in the hall of fame.

Edit: I eventually found all the emeralds...

The Perception
Pros:
Everything

Cons: Nothing

Pure Brilliance, loves the original, love this. Can't wait for part two now!

Oh yeah, I also found this:
Screenshot2010-08-24at153302.png
 
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Ok, why isn't this in the hall of fame? I'm serious.
Because we don't just move stuff to the Hall of Fame upon release. It works like this: Any judge can suggest an addon to be moved to the Hall of Fame, and then the other judges vote on it. However, the general consensus is that we should wait at least a month before suggesting such a move, to see if a level is still great enough in retrospect. I think this one has very good chances of going into the Hall of Fame when the time is right, but not yet. It's not even completely released.

As weird as it may sound, I wouldn't mind this as a match zone, though the lag would be unbearable...
Did you read the first post? There will be a Match version in the second release.
 
Did you read the first post? There will be a Match version in the second release.

Must have just missed that bit, sorry. I was distracted by the beautiful images.
So when this is complete it may have a chance at the Hall Of Fame, cool!

(seriously, I want to see some "Perfect Links" videos ;)
I will record my gameplay of Botanic Serenity but you'd have to be amazing to get perfect link, especially with the time limit!
 
@daiches99: I agree, NiGHTS mode isn't the easiest to master ;) I think it's easier in Perception...

@SC: The emblems are nonsense because they needed to be in the MAINCFG. Otherwise, SRB2's default emblems take into effect, and they show up in odd places around the level :P
 
...Why ...why doesn't the title screen music loop? :((


http://wiki.srb2.org/wiki/MAINCFG#MAINCFG_Category
LoopTitle determines whether to loop the title screen music instead of just playing it once, à la SRB2's title screen music. When set to 1, the music at the title screen will loop. If the OGG file has a loop point, it will loop accordingly.

EDIT: Also thanks Mystic for preventing me from ever ditching this nickname ever
 
@Neo: Oversight, I swear! :[ I thought I put that there... it'll be fixed.

It's gonna be a while for the boss to materialize, but I'll let you know when we (Prime, akira, and I) have a better idea on the music. Thanks for your help!
 
I just wish you had contacted me about the jukebox music, I could've made sure they looped properly instead of just fading to black.

I noticed a fair amount of stuff that should get fixed, but the fact that screenshot taking broken in the current version of SRB2 doesn't help matters. It's mostly a lot of nasty HOMs which probably can't be fixed that easily (or at all), but there's some stuff that doesn't seem right, but I can't figure out if it's meant to be intentional.

Anyway, it's nice to have this level back, though the biggest practical changes (read: ignoring aesthetics) are just the emeralds' placement. I wonder if you could just keep switching the emeralds around like once a week and get away with it. :X
 
In a spot just ahead of where this screenshot was taken, I have gotten it to consistently crash twice while flying the track. Not sigsegv - SRB2 just up and quits running, and Windows then reminds me of it.

BSZ's a very pretty level and all, but it still feels unsettlingly unstable. The frequency of pop-in and HOMs makes me wince, like the thing is about to crash any second. Is there any reason Culling Planes couldn't be used to try and suppress at least some of the rendering glitches (particularly at the start), or is this about as good as it gets in software?

Also for some odd reason, time attack seems to think that after I cleared the level once (without touching time attack), my best time for the thing must be 26.28 seconds. Oh look... that's already what I had registered as my time for GFZ1. lolwut, save data?

I...might suggest picking a different tune for the menu in part 2, cause that yelling voice is kind of annoying and out of context >_>
 
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In a spot just ahead of where this screenshot was taken, I have gotten it to consistently crash twice while flying the track. Not sigsegv - SRB2 just up and quits running, and Windows then reminds me of it.
It's happened to me, and it's not a segment violation, it's an integer overflow. Alam got me to try the trunk build and Oogaland seems to have successfully fixed it there, because it hasn't crashed since.

BSZ's a very pretty level and all, but it still feels unsettlingly unstable. The frequency of pop-in and HOMs makes me wince, like the thing is about to crash any second.
By pop-in, do you mean things appearing from thin air as you approach them? This is a limited draw distance imposed by Nights mode in general -- check MAP29 in SRB2, it happens there too. The purpose is to lower the system requirements to run it at full speed, because each hoop object has a whole bunch of separate sprites, making the overall on-screen total much greater than your everyday SRB2 map.
 
By pop-in, do you mean things appearing from thin air as you approach them? This is a limited draw distance imposed by Nights mode in general -- check MAP29 in SRB2, it happens there too. The purpose is to lower the system requirements to run it at full speed, because each hoop object has a whole bunch of separate sprites, making the overall on-screen total much greater than your everyday SRB2 map.
Not necessarily that as much as entering various spaces where the player character and all other sprites become invisible, as if there are mini-culling planes all over the place. There are several of these right at the start.
 
Not necessarily that as much as entering various spaces where the player character and all other sprites become invisible, as if there are mini-culling planes all over the place. There are several of these right at the start.
That's probably the ancient software renderer cracking down under the pressure the huge rooms of BSZ put it through. You can see it in almost every map, but the busier the stage, the more obvious it becomes. In this respect, there's really nothing that can be done about it, apart from playing in OpenGL.
 
Oh wow, no idea how I pulled it off, but near where the green emerald is, i've managed to get myself disconnected from the flight track:

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Pretty sure you're not supposed to fly in those places :p
 
@MrM: Welcome to the world of software glitches :) I think BSZv2 is actually cleaner than 1.09.4, but at the same time crashier. Neo's point about the integer overflow seems helpful -- Neo, are you able to upload that build here so I/we can test it?

Anyway, much of the HOMs is an artifact of how open BSZ is. It's unfortunate, but not much I can do except change significant parts of the level. From a performance and gameplay standpoint, that's preferable -- but from an artistic and visual standpoint, I don't want that. Honestly, BSZ is better suited for Source. We'll see.

@Neo: That jukebox music can always be fixed for Part 2 ;) I'm taking a break right now. I'll get in touch with you on that along with the boss.
 
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It's mostly a lot of nasty HOMs which probably can't be fixed that easily (or at all), but there's some stuff that doesn't seem right, but I can't figure out if it's meant to be intentional

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I wasn't able to fix anything else, and not for a lack of trying. Even this one took hours to fix, and then distill down to the absolute necessary changes. You're welcome to try of course, but be sure to document everything you do(and I mean everything) in the event that you succeed.

...also, that HOM(and fix) was done with a zennode built map, I'm not sure but Digiku might have switched to ZDBSP for the release; I should ask him about that.
 
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@Prime: Yeah, I did. BSZ Secret w/ Zennode was crashing for multiple people, whereas I had better results with ZDBSP.

However, I think BSZ Regular w/ ZDBSP crashes more than with Zennode, so the next release may have to use both nodesbuilders, if we weren't interested in fixing the underlying problems (which, obviously, is no small task :P)
 
I seem to get a lot of crashes in The Perception a lot. Especially in the ditch.
It could be because of my computer screwing up, but the number of rings, emblems and hoops could also be a problem as the mares centre around there.

Anyway, I hope to give a review once I finish The Perception. Heck, I would like to make a video review. XD

Edit: Played again at half the resolution. Crashed when I saw the doorway you exit in the first level. Same place pretty much. Strange...
 
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On the topic of perception crashes, I haven't been able to get past the second mare because of the crashes in that level. While just normal Botanic Serenity on its own is an excellent package, it's a pity that the secret crashes to the extent of being unplayable.
 
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