SMA2 - Various interesting things - SMW Data Repository

Various interesting things I've found regarding SMA2 hacking...

(Maybe this could turn into a "SMA2 Data Repository"?)

- I've found that the boxes on the results screen correspond to the event numbers, not the particular levels. (When I obtained a secret exit in Yoshi's Island 1, the box for Yellow Switch Palace became filled.)

- Message blocks no longer destroy Layer 3 water (though the water still vanishes temporarily).

- Level names are not stored in the same way as the original SMW. (No idea how they are stored, though.)

- The number 0 was removed from the available characters in message blocks-- the message about the 30-coin star block now uses a capital O.

- Most of SMA2's new midway entrances do not fit the original SMW requirements. See this file for more details:
SMA2midway.txt

- In Donut Secret 2, around screen 9, the screen will scroll a bit strangely if you're on the upper level. (Maybe this is a new sprite?)

- Front Door and Back Door have timers of 800 and 600, respectively, but these appear not to exist in the header.

- Also, there's an undocumented new sprite-- the rotating platforms (1 or 3) with a Dragon Coin that appear in Donut Plains 3, Chocolate Island 3, and Star World 4. (These platforms may be a variant of the existing rotating platforms though.)

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Advynia: a Yoshi's Island editor - Alyssa's Unlikely Trap demo 3

About the dragon coin platforms...

I dont really think it's 1 big combined sprite as much as it is just a sprite dragon coin with the coding to move in circles like the platforms. I believe one could make one out of the sprite dragon coin that romi made if they gave it a moving routine.

Anyways, pretty interesting information. Didn't know some of this stuff.

Quite interesting. I didn't know most of these.

Now I need to change my old avatar. Or not.

Quite the interesting finds you have here.
The fact that you actually could find all of these is just awesome

I assume it was quite hard to find alot of these, as they would require alot of attention to detail (like number 0 not used in info boxes) so i tip my hat to you. :>

ask me if i give a f*ck...

Donut Secret 2 scrolling:
Likely a sprite to disable scrolling access to the upper area where there's not much level. My bet's on the sprite # being EB, or it being the extra scrolling bit Smallhacker found a while back.

Originally posted by Smallhacker (in another thread)

Aside from the two new bytes that SMA2 adds to the level header (I have yet to determine how exactly these bytes work), the only change is disabling vertical scroll, supporting my theory that this property is now decided by the extra bytes.

EDIT: Maybe one of those bytes is a screen number?

Let's milk Sunny Milk. Then she'll have enough money to fund Sunny Milk Real Estate.
Everypony's digging with a shovel

Originally posted by Wiimeiser

Donut Secret 2 scrolling:
Likely a sprite to disable scrolling access to the upper area where there's not much level. My bet's on the sprite # being EB, or it being the extra scrolling bit Smallhacker found a while back.

Originally posted by Smallhacker (in another thread)

Aside from the two new bytes that SMA2 adds to the level header (I have yet to determine how exactly these bytes work), the only change is disabling vertical scroll, supporting my theory that this property is now decided by the extra bytes.

EDIT: Maybe one of those bytes is a screen number?

Doubtful. I have the new header format mostly figured out (as shown here)

Then maybe it could be the new 4-bit sprite?

Let's milk Sunny Milk. Then she'll have enough money to fund Sunny Milk Real Estate.
Everypony's digging with a shovel

OK, new discovery--

As I somewhat suspected, SMA2's midway entrances use a different setting for their X/Y position. (However, they still use the screen number setting from the original header.)

I was testing my ported level 105, and died after the midpoint. I restarted from level 105's original midway entrance, not my new midway entrance (which was directly above the old one).

I then tried changing the midway screen from 9 to A, and Mario started on screen A, but was still at the original coordinates.

(I wonder where the midway entrances are located? I would guess that they're stored in a similar way as secondary entrances...)

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Edit:

After scanning through the secondary header 3rd bytes, it seems that the screen numbers are correct for all of SMA2's new midway entrances.

For example, level E7's main entrance (which is the same as level 7's midway entrance) is on screen 7, and level 7's midway entrance is set to screen 7.

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Edit 2:

After some more testing, it seems that entrance types are still carried over from the main entrance to the midway entrance.

However (as I mentioned earlier), Mario starts out standing still in water level midway entrances (entrance type 7), instead of exiting from a pipe.

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Edit 3:

Something different now.

I was experimenting with changing the default timer values ([00 02 03 04] at xD96C4 if anyone's interested).

When I changed the 00 to 03, the castle intro scenes had 300 time, as expected. The timer counts down during the intro scene, but resets when the level actually begins.

However, after the change, the castle intro scenes for Front Door and Back Door had 800 and 600 time (the same as the actual levels). (The timer still reset when the level actually began, though.)

Also, the bonus game timer remained at 0.

(Also, I discovered that although you can exit Front Door from the pause menu after you win the game, that's not true for Back Door. It may just be a programming oversight, but it gets me wondering if Front Door's event activates when you win the game (causing the castles to be rebuilt).)

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Advynia: a Yoshi's Island editor - Alyssa's Unlikely Trap demo 3