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Esrael s2b

From Sonic Retro

Historical document icon.svg This historical hacking document is preserved here for archival purposes.
It has not been revised since its original writing and may be outdated. For an SCHG-equivalent document, see SCHG:Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Simon Wai prototype).

Using a hexadecimal editor it's possible to modify the game, editing it byte-by-byte. Knowing where it is each instruction and altering it correctly you can customize the game. You can draw other character in the place of Sonic but this is not easy since he has that if fact point to point. To change the name of the levels in the selection menu and in I title it of the levels. But to program the game it is necessary that he is in the binary format, it is not very difficult to convert the game to binary, you can use a conversion program or the emulator Genecyst that has the DUMP ROM option, that makes the conversion.

Level Select Menu

The Level Select Menu of Sonic 2 Beta uses a format of plain text of 26 characters per line. All lines can fit up to 26 characters besides the lines that show only STAGE 1 and 2. The first space begins in the letter G of GREEN HILL and the last space finishes in I number it 0 of STAGE 0, the first space begins where it finishes the space of the first line and like this until the end of the screen of selection of levels. see the list of the levels and the respective addresses below in the editor hexadecimal. In the editor you will see addresses for example in hexadecimal in the following format: 000035B9. But in the page you will see that same address represented by 3B59. Look at the image of the hexadecimal editor and soon I list all the levels and their respective addresses.

Esr s2bguide 1.png
LEVEL OFFSET
GREEN HILL ZONE STAGE 0 3D7C to 3D96
GREEN HILL ZONE STAGE 1 3D97 to 3DB1
WOOD ZONE STAGE 0 3DB2 to 3DCC
WOOD ZONE STAGE 1 3DCD to 3DE7
METROPOLIS ZONE STAGE 0 3DE8 to 3E02
METROPOLIS ZONE STAGE 1 3E03 to 3E1D
METROPOLIS ZONE STAGE 2 3E1E to 3E38
HILL TOP STAGE 0 3E39 to 3E53
HILL TOP STAGE 1 3E54 to 3E6E
HIDDEN PALACE ZONE STAGE 0 3E6F to 3E89
HIDDEN PALACE ZONE STAGE 1 3E8A to 3EA4
OIL OCEAN ZONE STAGE 0 3EA5 to 3EBF
OIL OCEAN ZONE STAGE 1 3EC0 to 3EDA
DUST HILL ZONE STAGE 0 3EDB to 3EF5
DUST HILL ZONE STAGE 1 3EF6 to 3F10
CASINO NIGHT ZONE STAGE 0 3F11 to 3F2B
CASINO NIGHT ZONE STAGE 1 3F2C to 3F46
CHEMICAL PLANT ZONE STAGE 0 3F47 to 3F61
CHEMICAL PLANT ZONE STAGE 1 3F62 to 3F7C
GENOCIDE CITY ZONE STAGE 0 3F7D to 3F97
GENOCIDE CITY ZONE STAGE 1 3F98 to 3FB2
NEO GREEN HILL ZONE STAGE 0 3FB3 to 3FCD
NEO GREEN HILL ZONE STAGE 1 3FCE to 3FE8
DEATH EGG ZONE STAGE 0 3FE9 to 4003
DEATH EGG ZONE STAGE 1 4004 to 401E
SPECIAL STAGE 401F to 4039
SOUND TEST 4A3A to 4054

The name of the levels uses a non-ASCII group of characters. It is necessary to know the equivalence of the letters to modify the name. Look at the table below and modify the names. Run the game and go to the level select menu and see the names that you replaced.

00 = 0 01 = 1 02 = 2 03 = 3 04 = 4
05 = 5 06 = 6 07 = 7 08 = 8 09 = 9
0A = $ 0B = - 0C = = 0D = <- 0E = <-
0F = Y 10 = Z 11 = A 12 = B 13 = C
14 = D 15 = E 16 = F 17 = G 18 = H
19 = I 1A = J 1B = K 1C = L 1D = M
1E = N 1F = O 20 = P 21 = Q 22 = R
23 = S 24 = T 25 = U 26 = V 27 = W
28 = X FF =

You can also define the level that the game loads when pressing "START" in the menu of selection of levels. The place where the game search the levels when pressing "START" in any level in the level select menu are starting from the address 3AD4 on. Look at the hexadecimal editor image:

Esr s2bguide 2.png

The cursor in the image is exactly in the 3AD4h address, this is the initial address for load of the levels of the menu of selection of levels. The menu of selection of levels uses 2 bytes to select a level. the 1st. byte defines the zone to be loaded the 2nd. byte defines the act to be loaded, in the byte that configures the act the 00 it indicates act 1 and the 01 it indicates the act 2, the only exception is Metropolis Zone Act 3 that is represented by 05-00, the others they follow the rule above. To facilitate the understanding and the edition of the levels I created two tables: one with ID of the levels that will be used in the 1st byte of the levels. Look:

LEVEL ID
GREEN HILL 00
WOOD ZONE 02
METROPOLIS 04
METROPOLIS 05
HILL TOP 07
HIDDEN PALACE 08
OIL OCEAN ZONE 0A
DUST HILL ZONE 0B
CASINO NIGHT ZONE 0C
CHEMICAL PLANT ZONE 0D
GENOCIDE CITY ZONE 0E
NEO GREEN HILL ZONE 0F
DEATH EGG ZONE 10


Notice that some numbers are jumped as of the 01, 03, 06 and 09. In spite of not existing a level name for these IDs in the relationship and nor in the menu of selection of levels. If you place these IDs that you are being missing you he can acquire the lost levels (he makes the experience and see the results). it Observes the table with the standard of the levels location and soon after an explanation.

LEVEL ADDRESS
GREEN HILL ZONE STAGE 0 3AD4 & 3AD5
GREEN HILL ZONE STAGE 1 3AD6 & 3AD7
WOOD ZONE STAGE 0 3AD8 & 3AD9
WOOD ZONE STAGE 1 3ADA & 3ADB
METROPOLIS ZONE STAGE 0 3ADC & 3ADD
METROPOLIS ZONE STAGE 1 3ADE & 3ADF
METROPOLIS ZONE STAGE 2 3AE0 & EAE1
HILL TOP STAGE 0 3AE2 & 3AE3
HILL TOP STAGE 1 3AE4 & 3AE5
HIDDEN PALACE ZONE STAGE 0 3AE6 & 3AE7
HIDDEN PALACE ZONE STAGE 1 3AE8 & 3AE9
OIL OCEAN ZONE STAGE 0 3AEA & 3AEB
OIL OCEAN ZONE STAGE 1 3AEC & 3AED
DUST HILL ZONE STAGE 0 3AEE & 3AEF
DUST HILL ZONE STAGE 1 3AF0 & 3AF1
CASINO NIGHT ZONE STAGE 0 3AF2 & 3AF3
CASINO NIGHT ZONE STAGE 1 3AF4 & 3AF5
CHEMICAL PLANT ZONE STAGE 0 3AF6 & 3AF7
CHEMICAL PLANT ZONE STAGE 1 3AF8 & 3AF9
GENOCIDE CITY ZONE STAGE 0 3AFA & 3AFB
GENOCIDE CITY ZONE STAGE 1 3AFC & 3AFD
NEO GREEN HILL ZONE STAGE 0 3AFE & 3AFF
NEO GREEN HILL ZONE STAGE 1 3B00 & 3B01
DEATH EGG ZONE STAGE 0 3B02 & 3B03
DEATH EGG ZONE STAGE 1 3B04 & 3B05
SPECIAL STAGE 3B06 & 3B07

The table above indicates where they are located the configuration bytes in the menu of selection of levels. The 1st. I address of the table it indicates the byte of the zone and the 2nd. address indicates the act byte. Example in the address 3AE6 you will see the byte 08 (Hidden Palace zone) and in the address 3AE7 you will see the byte 00 (Act 1). In case you want to turn an inaccessible level in the menu of level selection he types 80 in the byte of the zone.

Music

You can also choose the music to be played in the levels. The format is of just a byte for level and it is very simple. To place another music of its preference, play the sounds in the sound test, write down the number of the music and place in the byte that represents the chosen level. Obs: for technical questions the level Death Egg cannot have its selected music. See below in the table the location of the selection of music. Also observe that for the correct operation will be necessary to alter the bytes in the two addresses listed below.

Level Music Address 1 Address 2
GREEN HILL 82 4140 FD66
ID 02 82 4141 FD67
WOOD ZONE 83 4142 FD68
ID 03 90 4143 FD69
METROPOLIS 83 4144 FD6A
METROPOLIS 3 83 4145 FD6B
ID 06 93 4146 FD6C
HILL TOP 96 4147 FD6D
HIDDEN PALACE 86 4148 FD6E
ID 09 8F 4149 FD6F
OIL OCEAN ZONE 81 414A FD70
DUST HILL ZONE 85 414B FD71
CASINO NIGHT ZONE 84 414C FD72
CHEMICAL PLANT ZONE 8D 414D FD73
GENOCIDE CITY ZONE 8D 414E FD74
NEO GREEN HILL ZONE 87 414F FD75
DEATH EGG ZONE not to move 4150 FD76

Start Level

You can define which level the game loads when pressing " START " during the screen title, that now is NEO GREEN HILL. For so much it goes to the address 383A and 383B, you will see the bytes 0F-00 that belong NEO GREEN HILL act 1, Change these bytes using ID of the levels in the selection menu and select the level that the game should load when pressing " START ". Former: if you change these bytes for 07-01 the game it will load the level HILL TOP act 2 when pressing " START " in the screen title.

Order of the Levels

Now the sequence of the levels of the game is NGHZ 1-2, CPZ 1-2, HTZ 1-2, GHZ 1-2, but it is possible to alter the order with that the levels are exhibited in the game. The sequence begins in Offset BF9A á BFDD. The format is similar to the menu of selection of levels, that is to say two bytes for level. The picture below exhibition the current sequence of the levels in order in that are played. Change ID to go for a level different from the specified.

FROM TO ADDRESS ID
START NGHZ 1 383A & 383B 0F-00
NGHZ 1 NGHZ 2 BFD6 & BFD7 0F-01
NGHZ 2 CPZ 1 BFD8 & BFD9 0D-00
CPZ 1 CPZ 2 BFCE & BFCF 0D-01
CPZ 2 HTZ 1 BFD0 & BFD1 07-00
HTZ 1 HTZ 2 BFD6 & BFB7 07-01
HTZ 2 GHZ 1 BFB8 & BFB9 00-00
GHZ 1 GHZ 2 BF9A & BF9B 00-01

Title Cards

Originally these are disabled in the version beta, but you cannot you activate them.

Changing objects

You can also alter objects in the levels as badnicks, lives, obstacles, etc... The configuration of the objects in the levels uses 6 long bytes, being in the format XX-XX-YY-YY-OO-VV. Explaining to X's better indicates the horizontal position in the screen, Y's indicates the vertical position in the screen, O's indicates the objects they be she placed and V's indicates the possible variations of each object. To obtain the exact location of the place where you want for the objects, make the code of the debug mode and write down the first line of coordinates in the place of SCORE, These will be the coordinates that you should type to place the object in the wanted place. See the location where the game search the objects of the phases. The levels finish the mapeamento before the bytes FF-FF-00-00-00-00. Starting from these bytes next level begins.

GREEN HILL ZONE STAGE 0 4404A
GREEN HILL ZONE STAGE 1 442C6
METROPOLIS ZONE STAGE 0 445C0
METROPOLIS ZONE STAGE 1 4458A
METROPOLIS ZONE STAGE 2 44B30
HILL TOP STAGE 0 44EFC
HILL TOP STAGE 1 45130
HIDDEN PALACE ZONE STAGE 0 4554A
OIL OCEAN ZONE STAGE 0 4565E
OIL OCEAN ZONE STAGE 1 457C0
DUST HILL ZONE STAGE 0 459AC
CHEMICAL PLANT ZONE STAGE 0 45A2A
CHEMICAL PLANT ZONE STAGE 1 45CC4
NEO GREEN HILL ZONE STAGE 0 4605A
NEO GREEN HILL ZONE STAGE 1 46216

Select a level to exhibit the available objects and its coordinates.

Object Properties

This part is very interesting because it is in her that the game search all the objects. In this local one you can edit the objects of the game and to add other objects using null spaces in the game.

Palette of Colors

In this part you can edit the colors of the levels, Sonic, Tails, etc.. The Format is 0BGR. To edit the colors it uses Paint Brush of Windows. choose a color any it selects to edit or of a double click in the color. Observe it I number of the colors (GREEN / RED / BLUE) it Uses the calculator of Windows in the scientific way and divide it I number of each color for 16. Ignore the numbers after the point. Convert the result for hexadecimal (In the scientific way simply click in hex). it Places in the place of the bytes in agreement with the order (0BGR 0 - it doesn't move; B - BLUE; G - GREEN, R - RED). This method can be used that works.

See the location of the palettes below:

ID LEVEL / EVENT ADDRESS
00 SEGA LOGO 2A16
01 Tela Titulo 2A96
02 Menu de Seleção de Fases 2B16
03 Sonic / Tails / Title Cards ... 2B96
04 Green Hill 2BB6
05* 01-00 2BB6
06 Wood 2C16
07* 03-00 2BB6
08 / 09 Metropolis 2C76
0A 06-00 2F36
0B Hill Top 2CD6
0C Hidden Palace 2D36
0D* 09-00 2BB6
0E Oil Ocean 2E16
0F Dust Hill 2E76
10 Casino Night 2ED6
11 Chemical Plant 2F96
12* Genocide City 2BB6
13 Neo Green Hill 3076
14* Death Egg 2BB6
15 Hidden Palace (underwater) 2D96
16 Chemical Plant (underwater) 2FF6
17 Neo Green Hill (underwater) 30D6
18 Special Stage 3156

(*) Not to change these palettes because the pointers are the same of Green Hill.

Other Palettes (Waterfalls, Lights, etc...)

LEVEL EVENT ADDRESS
Green Hill / Neo Green Hill Water Cycling 2284
Wood Mat Spin 2324
Metropolis .................. 2334
Metropolis Engagement Spin 2340
Metropolis Background Lights 234C
Hill Top Lava Cycling 22A4
Hidden Palace Water Cycling 2360
Hidden Palace ................. 2370
Oil Ocean Oil Cycling 2380
Dust Hill Lanterns 2390
Casino Night Lights 2398
Casino Night Mat Spin 23BC
Casino Night Background Lights 23CE
Chemical Plant .............. 2422
Chemical Plant .............. 2458
Chemical Plant Background Lights 2482


Demo Mode

You can choose the order in that the levels are shown in the demo mode and also to select other levels for the demo mode. See below in the table the current sequence and its respective locations.

SEQUENCE LEVEL OFFSET ID
1o. Chemical Plant 3C16 & 3C17 0D-00
2o. Green Hill 3C18 & 3C19 00-00
3o. Hidden Palace 3C1A & 3C1B 08-00
4o. Hill Top 3C1C & 3C1D 07-00

Sonic's Starting Location

In this part you can define in that point of the screen Sonic begins. To select a place different from the original. Use the way debug. Go to the place from where you want to begin and write down the coordinates (first line in the place of Score), Tends in hands the coordinates it places them accordingly in the place of the chosen level in the address of the table below.


LEVEL OFFSETS COORDINATES
Green Hill 1 5B02 to 5B05 00-60-02-8F
Green Hill 2 5B06 to 5B09 00-40-02-AF
01-00 5B0A to 5B0D 00-60-02-8F
01-01 5B0E to 5B11 00-40-02-AF
Wood 1 5B12 to 5B15 00-60-01-AC
Wood 2 5B16 to 5B19 00-40-01-AC
03-00 5B1A to 5B1D 00-60-02-8F
03-01 5B1E to 5B21 00-40-02-AF
Metropolis 1 5B22 to 5B25 00-60-02-8C
Metropolis 2 5B26 to 5B29 00-40-05-EC
Metropolis 3 5B2A to 5B2D 00-60-01-EC
05-01 5B2E to 5B31 00-40-02-AF
06-00 5B32 to 5B35 00-60-02-8F
06-01 5B36 to 5B39 00-40-02-AF
Hill Top 1 5B3A to 5B3D 00-40-03-AF
Hill Top 2 5B3E to 5B41 00-40-06-8F
Hidden Palace 1 5B42 to 5B45 02-30-01-AC
Hidden Palace 2 5B46 to 5B49 00-30-01-BD
09-00 5B4A to 5B4D 00-60-02-8F
09-01 5B4E to 5B51 00-40-02-AF
Oil Ocean 1 5B52 to 5B55 00-60-06-AC
Oil Ocean 2 5B56 to 5B59 00-50-05-6C
Dust Hill 1 5B5A to 5B5D 00-60-06-AC
Dust Hill 2 5B5E to 5B61 00-60-05-AC
Casino Night 1 5B62 to 5B65 00-60-02-8F
Casino Night 2 5B66 to 5B69 00-40-02-AF
Chemical Plant 1 5B6A to 5B6D 00-30-01-EC
Chemical Plant 2 5B6E to 5B71 00-30-01-2C
Genocide City 1 5B72 to 5B75 00-60-02-8F
Genocide City 2 5B76 to 5B79 00-40-02-AF
Neo Green Hill 1 5B7A to 5B7D 00-50-03-7C
Neo Green Hill 2 5B7E to 5B81 00-50-03-7C
Death Egg 1 5B82 to 5B85 00-60-02-8F
Death Egg 2 5B86 to 5B89 00-40-02-AF

Debug

In this part you can define which the objects will be loaded during the way debug. See as configuring the debug. (If you go a researcher of Roms, he/she will see objects that are disabled in the way debug). THE Format to configure the objects in the way debug is OO-PPPPPP-VV-SSSSSS where: OO is the object, PPPPPP it is the point of assembly of the object (it Consults the properties of the OBJECTS to catch this information), VV is the variant of the object and SSSSSS it is the address of the sprite regarding the object in V-RAM (necessary Sprite has to be loaded in V-RAM). To have success in the configuration he chooses an existent object in the level (You can use of another level, but he had needed to do special configurations). For you to understand the format I will get an object of GREEN HILL, that is to say the monitor. former: 26-00B6D2-07-00-0680. Separating the bytes has: 26 monitors, 00B6D2 Point of Assembly of the monitors, 07 monitor of invincibility, 00 frame set and 0680 search of Sprite in VRAM. Now see below in the table the location of the levels for DEBUG.

LEVELS OFFSETS Quantity of Objects
GREEN HILL 23DF2 18 (*)
METROPOLIS 23ECC 28
HILL TOP 23FAE 19
HIDDEN PALACE 24078 8 (*)
OIL OCEAN 240F2 16 (*)
DUST HILL 24194 16
CASINO NIGHT 24216 02
CHEMICAL PLANT 24228 18
NEO GREEN HILL 242C2 17
All the incomplete levels 23DE0 02

(*) All these levels can have more objects, because they have objects for the debug that are disabled. If you move in the pointers it can activate these objects. Activating these objects you will have the ALLIGATOR, the RHINOCEROS and a PIRANHA in GREEN HILL and in HIDDEN PALACE, even so without SPRITES because they are not usually loaded in VRAM.

Lives

In this part you can define with how many lives the game it begins. You can select up to 255 lives, even so above 99 the counter won't show the real number. The table below exhibition the values pattern of the Game. For example if you want to begin with 10 lives he/she should type the value in hexadecimal that is to say 0A.

ADDRESS BYTE DESCRIPTION
3B1B 03 Normal Mode
3BFB 03 Demo Mode

Rings

In this part you can select the value of each ring. You to choose that each ring to the ditch from 0 to 8 to be collected. If you want a difficult game he/she makes each ring to be worth 0. he/she Sees the table I lower a relationship of the possible values for the rings.

ADDRESS BYTE 1 RING =
AD22 - AD23 50-F0 0
AD22 - AD23 52-78 1 (padrão)
AD22 - AD23 54-78 2
AD22 - AD23 56-78 3
AD22 - AD23 58-78 4
AD22 - AD23 5A-78 5
AD22 - AD23 5C-78 6
AD22 - AD23 5E-78 7
AD22 - AD23 50-78 8

Lost objects

0xAEB6 - Big Ring (Sonic 1) (part 1)

0xAF80 - Big Ring (Sonic 1) (part 2)

0xC068 - Special Stage - Title Cards

0x13F00-Springs - Special Stage (Sonic 1)

0x1405C - Oxygen (Sonic 1)

Misc. Options

0x38A - 0004 move to 0000 Start With Sega Logo.

0x1F30 - Palette Cicling Pointers

0x3926 - 0001 -> Enable / 0000 ->Disable Level Select Menu

0x3D3B - First number in the Sound Test (80)

0x4CCA - Skip End Level art Settings

0x5BC8 - Bg Screen Size Pointers

0x5E16 - Bg Scrool Pointers

0x7A26 - Boss and Misc Settings Pointers

0x22408 - Animated Sprites (Load in Vram) Pointers

0x229A2 - Animated Sprites (Assembly) Pointers

0x23DBE - Debug Mode Pointers

0x50000 - Sonic Sprites (Uncompressed)

0x6254C - Tails Sprites (Uncompressed)

References


Sonic Community Hacking Guide
General
SonED2 Manual | Subroutine Equivalency List
Game-Specific
Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit) | Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit) | Sonic CD (prototype 510) | Sonic CD | Sonic CD (PC) | Sonic CD (2011) | Sonic 2 (Simon Wai prototype) | Sonic 2 (16-bit) | Sonic 2 (Master System) | Sonic 3 | Sonic 3 & Knuckles | Chaotix | Sonic Jam | Sonic Jam 6 | Sonic Adventure | Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut | Sonic Adventure DX: PC | Sonic Adventure (2010) | Sonic Adventure 2 | Sonic Adventure 2: Battle | Sonic Adventure 2 (PC) | Sonic Heroes | Sonic Riders | Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) | Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing | Sonic Unleashed (Xbox 360/PS3) | Sonic Colours | Sonic Generations | Sonic Forces
Technical information
Sonic Eraser | Sonic 2 (Nick Arcade prototype) | Sonic CD (prototype; 1992-12-04) | Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine | Sonic Triple Trouble | Tails Adventures | Sonic Crackers | Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island | Sonic & Knuckles Collection | Sonic R | Sonic Shuffle | Sonic Advance | Sonic Advance 3 | Sonic Battle | Shadow the Hedgehog | Sonic Rush | Sonic Classic Collection | Sonic Free Riders | Sonic Lost World
Legacy Guides
The Nemesis Hacking Guides The Esrael Hacking Guides
ROM: Sonic 1 | Sonic 2 | Sonic 2 Beta | Sonic 3

Savestate: Sonic 1 | Sonic 2 Beta/Final | Sonic 3

Sonic 1 (English / Portuguese) | Sonic 2 Beta (English / Portuguese) | Sonic 2 and Knuckles (English / Portuguese)
Move to Sega Retro
Number Systems (or scrap) | Assembly Hacking Guide | 68000 Instruction Set | 68000 ASM-to-Hex Code Reference | SMPS Music Hacking Guide | Mega Drive technical information