Import Levels Into Sonic Generations

SCHG: Sonic Generations
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How-To
Import Levels Create Breakable Objects Create Splines

This is a tutorial on how to import custom levels into Sonic Generations.

Required Tools

• SonicGLVL
• Generations Archive Editor
• Autodesk 3DS Max 2011 (Sign up for a student license to get it free)
• Easy Ogre Max Exporter for 3DS Max
• Havok Content Tools for PC (Havok 2010 2.0)

Step 1: Finding the stage

• You can go on The Models Resource and find stage rips there, or you can use Google. Either way, you're going to have to import the stage into 3DS Max.

Step 2: Importing into 3DS Max

• First and foremost: Make sure the units are set to meters! This is crucial. Go into Customize and go into Units Setup and set it to meters. Also go into the System Unit Setup menu in the Units Setup menu and set it to meters as well.
• Use the import function by clicking the top left icon in 3DS Max. Select your file type and import the stage into 3DS Max. You then have to make sure the import options are like the following images: Image 1 Image 2

Step 3: Scaling the stage

• The next thing to do is to scale the stage. The easiest thing to do is create a box that is as big as Sonic. His dimensions are 0.5m x 0.5m x 1.0m. You can use this box as a reference.
• Scale your stage by selecting all the objects in the stage and then in the right clicking and selecting scale. Make sure you don't scale your reference object!
• On the bottom of the screen, you should see the three axes: X, Y, and Z. They all should say 100, which is the scale percentage. If you set them to 50, your stage will be 50% of its original size. If you scale it to 150, it'll be 50% bigger than it originally once was.

Step 4: Rendering GIA

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Step 5: Exporting the level geometry

• After you've finished with all that, it's time to export the level geometry.
• First, you must download the Easy Ogre Max Exporter for 3DS Max, which is above in the required tools. Make sure you download the correct one for 3DS Max 2011.
• Import the plugin by going into Customize > Plug-in Manager... then right clicking anywhere in the box and selecting Load New Plug-in...
• Select the file that you downloaded and it should load perfectly into 3DS Max.
• Click the top left icon and click Export. Have it export it as a .scene file. Make sure to export it into a separate folder so you can keep everything that you exported organized.
• Here are the options that you should have: Image

Finale Part 1: Importing the geometry into SonicGLVL

• Open any stage in SonicGLVL and load the terrain groups. After it's all loaded, clear all terrain geometry (it's under the terrain section). This may take a while, so please be patient. Once it is done, under the terrain section, click Import Ogre .scene as geometry...
• After you select the .scene file, generate the terrain groups under the terrain section. You must then go into same folder that you exported the .scene file in. There should be some .dds files in there. Copy all those .dds files into the resources folder of the cache folder of the level that you're importing over.
• Finally, you must go under the file section and repack the terrain geometry. Once that is over, open the Generations Archive Editor and search the Packed folder files and find and delete visibility-tree.vt and resave it. If you find an extra file in the Packed folder that has just visibility-tree.vt in it, delete the actual file.

Finale Part 2: Creating and importing collision into Sonic Generations

• You must download Havok Content Tools 2010 2.0, as it says in the required tools section. Install it to your Autodesk 3DS 2011 directory (it should auto-select it for you).
• Go back into 3DS Max 2011 and select all of the objects that you want to have collision. Go to the right and hover over the icons and find the one that says modify. It should have a rainbow icon.
• In the modifier list, select Havok Shape and Havok Rigid Body. All you need to is set the Shape type to Mesh. This is the most accurate collision.
• You then must go and select Havok Content Tools on the menu bar and export it with these settings: Order Create World Transform Scene Create Rigid Bodies Write to Platform
• For Write to Platform, use the settings Binary Packfile for Win32 MSVC. You can select the path to save your HKX to wherever you need.
• Once you've put all those settings in, run the configuration. There might be some errors that pop up, but just ignore them.
• The final step is here: importing the collision into Sonic Generations. You need to open Generations Archive Editor and open #ghz200.ar.00 and replace ghz200_col.phy.hkx with the newly generated one that should be on your desktop. After that, just save it and you're finished!