Help with SOC?

[SRB2SuperSonic]

This is the first thread I've posted about help with modding. But anyways,

After Encore Mode by Twins' R Okay released, I was very hyped on completing the game using only Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, SSNMighty, and SegaSonic Ray, and was pretty disappointed when I found out Amy, Fang, and Metal Sonic were available from the start, ruining the whole thing for me. I tried changing it myself by attempting to make those 3 characters unlockables, but all of my attempts (all of which were edits to the MAINCFG of the Encore Campaign) were unsuccessful, which the most recent of my attempts locking out Sonic instead of Amy, Fang, or Metal.

This thread exists because I need help with learning how to make a custom SOC to use with Encore Mode. I figured out how to change the music and even the sky textures in an SOC, but now I want to learn how to handle unlockables, so that Amy, Fang, and Metal can remain unlockable characters. And no, I'm not trying to make my own mod, because one, I don't know s**t about SRB2's modding system (aside from music and sfx, surprisingly), and two, I'm on mobile so I don't think it's possible.

 

[Linz]

So let me get this straight
You want to make those 3 characters unlockable for Encore Mode because it "ruined it" for you having them at the start

What
Why

 

[MelodyMuse]

Oh, it's you again. There's no point in me telling you not to bother with figuring out how to change something so minor, since it's ultimately your choice how you want to enhance your game experience, and I've seen how you are with things like this anyway. Even if I wanted to, I'm also in no position to help you either. I know less than you when it comes to scripting and coding. The question is how something like this managed to ruin the mod for you. Is it because it doesn't accurately mirror Sonic Mania's own Encore Mode, and you want to have that experience brought over to SRB2? If so, fair enough, though I can't say that full-heartedly. This feels like a very minor gripe that wouldn't bother most people who'd look at the rest of the mod rather than... this. The strange thing is that it isn't even an actual issue. Now, I can understand looking at something that isn't inherently harmful but is still annoying regardless, but I wouldn't call opting to change the coding of a mod drastically because you didn't like something very small about it a rational decision. It makes me wonder if the option of just coping with the difference and moving forward anyway is impossible to you. Nevertheless, it's down to you how you enhance your experience, as I said before. But it's really not worth all this trouble...

 

[amperbee]

Alright.

@SRB2SuperSonic, I did ask you to make a thread to ask for help on doing the thing you so much want to do instead of wrangling people to do it for you.
However, I did not ask you to air your grievances with some random mod again, nor be pessimistic and go "[...] I'm on mobile so it won't work anyways". That's real petty, dude.

While being on mobile does complicate things as you won't have access to specialized tools (like SLADE), it is by no means impossible to work around it. It takes a few extra steps, but you can still mod the game this way.

---

You're on mobile, so you should be able to get a compressed file explorer. PK3 files are basically ZIP files but renamed^[1].
Encore Mode is marked as reusable, so you can just pop open that mod and edit whatever you want.

While the correct course of action would be to create a mod that changes Encore's behavior, I believe it would be easier for you to just screw with Encore Mode and modify how the extra cast is unlocked.
There are a bunch of ways to go around this, like changing a skin's availability setting, or... a few others(?), but you can just change how these unlockables are unlocked.

So, open Encore Campaign's PK3, and look for a file that handles unlockables. Unlockables are usually performed in a MAINCFG file, so there should be one somewhere, like... in the SOC folder.

Open it up with a text editor, and look for something that declares the extra cast's unlockability.
It isn't far away; it's literally grouped with "Unlockable #" headers.
From there, you can change the ConditionSets that must be fulfilled for them to be unlocked:

• -1 means "unlock from the start", so you should pick anything that is not -1.
• You can use a ConditionSet that has nothing attached to it!
  • Default sets are hardcoded in the game's source code, so this one's mostly trial and error. Up to 128 can exist in the game, so pretty sure ConditionSet 127 should not be attainable in any way.
• ...or you can create your own ConditionSet with some impossible to fulfill condition.
• Or you can try and see what happens if you just delete these lines (READ: Only the three character unlockables; don't blank the entire file). I believe they will revert to vanilla unlock conditions, but I haven't tried it so I'm not sure.

Afterwards, save the file and you should be theoretically good to go.


TL;DR: all you have to do is
open pk3 as zip > open SOC folder > open MAINCFG file as text > change three numbers OR delete a few lines > save


1: This is not entirely correct. The format of a PK3 file is extremely similar to a ZIP file, except:

• Unlike ZIP files, whose contents are unordered, PK3 files can have order.
• PK3 files have a special header that allows SRB2 to load them. This header is automatically applied by a modding tool (like SLADE) upon creation (editing a PK3's contents does not remove this header!). As such, a normal ZIP file can't be loaded by the game.

---

[...] I'm not trying to make my own mod [...]

A mod is a modification for a game. So by definition yes, you are making a mod. Or, well, editing one.

 

[SRB2SuperSonic]

I have tried deleting the text for unlockable characters. It did nothing.
But I didn't try using a ConditionSet that has nothing attached to it. Maybe that could work. I'll let you know if it does anything.
EDIT: Nothing worked. I hate to say it, but for those of us who wanted the authentic Mania experience with this, we're screwed.

 

[MelodyMuse]

"Authen

"[...]for those of us who wanted the authentic Mania experience[...]"

Apologies, but I can probably count all those people on my fingers. I highly doubt you'd be able to distribute this mod without the original creator's permission. I also doubt that they'd grant you permission if the change is so small that you may as well be reposting it. It's likely that you'll have to keep the mod for yourself if you do manage to succeed.

 

[Linz]

I have tried deleting the text for unlockable characters. It did nothing.
But I didn't try using a ConditionSet that has nothing attached to it. Maybe that could work. I'll let you know if it does anything.
EDIT: Nothing worked. I hate to say it, but for those of us who wanted the authentic Mania experience with this, we're screwed.

 

[SRB2SuperSonic]

Just forget about this thread. I was an idiot back when I made this.

Though now I want to try making one of the unlockable characters available from the beginning like Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles.

Can someone help me on that?

 

[DylanDude]

Replied to query in another thread.