SOTN Ultimate (PS1 Version) v1.4

SOTN Ultimate (PS1 Version) v1.4

Fixes from your reports, Saturn Maria's new button layout, and the Saturn
shaft on the first visit to the Castle Entrance. Thanks to everyone who
played v1.3 and sent reports, and to Sakitoshi for Maria's button
layout.

Getting it

v1.4 is a full new build: open the new builder.html and build the disc again
from the same three discs as before (PS1 US, Saturn JP, PSP US). There is no
patch from v1.3 to v1.4. Saves from v1.3 work in v1.4.

If you play with emulator save states: states made with v1.3 hold the old
version's code and will not work properly in v1.4 (crashes or odd
behaviour). Before updating, save your game with an in-game save point
(memory card), then in v1.4 load that save and make new states from there.

The page checks the result: its MD5 must be
901d74656aedbd8da3050d6a3716f32f (checksums.txt has the other values).

Fixes

• Castle Entrance, first visit: until v1.3 the first visit (Death's
  encounter, and every Richter and Maria game after the horse ride) was the
  retail Entrance, and the Saturn shaft to the Underground Garden only
  opened on later visits. The Entrance now has the Saturn shaft, its
  candelabras and the moved save room from the very first visit, as on the
  Saturn, with the castle map to match.

• Royal Chapel confessional: leaving in the middle of the priest's prayer
  left the Chapel without music until the next area. The music now comes
  back. The good priest's prayer is voiced.

• Saturn Maria: after many hits in a row (the Mermen at the Castle
  Entrance, for example) her sounds could go silent until the next area.
  Fixed.

• Saturn Maria: her shot and fireball sounds were quieter than on the
  Saturn. They now play at the Saturn's level.

• Saturn Maria: holy water's flames now fall off ledges at the Saturn's
  speed.

• Saturn Maria: she was drawn 1 pixel too low, her feet inside the floor.
  She now stands on it, as on the Saturn.

• Stereo: the original game starts every new game in mono, and only
  Alucard has a menu to change it, so Richter and Maria were stuck in
  mono. A new game now starts in stereo, and Richter and Maria saves
  load in stereo (older saves too). Alucard saves keep his setting.

• Saturn music: the short pause when a track goes back to its loop (every
  4 to 5 minutes) came in the middle of the music. It now falls at the
  quietest moment of each track's loop, after a short fade-out: on the
  Cursed Prison, in a silent bar.

• Richter: the axe item crash could leave him stuck when used under an exit
  in the ceiling. Fixed.

• God Speed Shoes: attacking with a weapon no longer stops the sprint, as on
  the Saturn.

• Wing Smash: the Saturn's unlimited Wing Smash (until a wall or your MP
  runs out) now applies to the Saturn balance only. The PS1 balance has the
  retail time limit again.

• Underground Garden: the Human Face Tree was drawn in front of dropped
  items. Items are now drawn in front of it.

• Cursed Prison: a burnt-out candle could be drawn over coin bags and other
  drops. Fixed.

• Inventory: loading a save put every Saturn item at the end of Alucard's
  item lists, wherever you had sorted it. Saves made with v1.4 keep your
  order. (Older saves load with them at the end once more; sort them and
  save again.)

• Librarian, Enemy List: the Man Eater's rare drop showed as "Sound"
  instead of the Woodland Shield (and the Gargoyle's Double Blade Axe the
  same way). Both names are right now.

• Item names: "Glaring cloth" and "Rainbow mantle", in the game's own
  style.

New

• Saturn Maria's buttons: Circle kicks (slide kick when running), Triangle
  or R1 backdashes, and her specials end with Square or Circle. This layout
  was first asked for and made by Sakitoshi in his fork of this mod.
  Thank you, Sakitoshi!

• God Speed Shoes: Soul Steal and Dark Metamorphosis can be cast while
  sprinting. (The Saturn does not allow this; it makes them usable with the
  shoes on.)

• Builder: checks the size of your Saturn and PSP dumps and tells you if one
  is not the expected image.

• Builder: each disc now has its own Choose button. Some Android browsers
  could not pick the three discs at once; add them one at a time instead.
  Phones are still not officially supported: try it at your own risk (it
  needs a lot of free memory).

Good to know

• Saturn Maria's guard: hold Square for about 6 seconds and a white diamond
  flashes in front of her: an invisible shield against enemy projectiles,
  kept while you hold Square and for 5 seconds after. When it runs out, a
  shrinking diamond shows it is gone. That diamond is the guard, not a
  glitch (README, section 4).

• Controller: play in DIGITAL mode. With a DualShock in analog mode (analog
  light on) SOTN gets wrong or no input, as in the original game.

• Boss Maria with the PS1 dub speaks Japanese on purpose: the PS1 never
  recorded an English voice for her fight. Choose the PSP dub for English.

Known

• Woodland Shield combos (the vine special with the Shield Rod, and the
  Mablung Sword's) work with the Saturn balance only, on purpose: the PS1
  balance keeps the PS1's rules.
• Saturn music in the new areas: a short pause (about half a second)
  every 4 to 5 minutes, when the stream seeks back into the loop. It now
  falls at a quiet moment, but it is still there (README, section 11).
• After an ending, the castle map keeps only the rooms of your last save:
  the ending reloads that save to mark it cleared, as in the original game.
  Save before the final fight to keep everything you explored.
• Sunstone and Moonstone follow the Saturn's real-time clock on the Saturn.
  The PS1 has no clock, so they follow play time instead.
• Nose Devil, English voices: the PSP has only four English lines for him
  (the Japanese pack has more), so he speaks less often than in Japanese.

SOTN Ultimate (PS1 Version) v1.3

SOTN Ultimate (PS1 Version) v1.3

Fixes, Saturn details we had missed, the Saturn horse sounds, and the
source code. Thanks to everyone who played v1.2 and sent reports.

Getting it

v1.3 is a full new build: open the new builder.html and build the disc again
from the same three discs as before (PS1 US, Saturn JP, PSP US). There is no
patch from v1.2 to v1.3. Saves from v1.2 work in v1.3.

If you play with emulator save states: states made with v1.2 hold the old
version's code and will not work properly in v1.3 (crashes or odd
behaviour). Before updating, save your game with an in-game save point
(memory card), then in v1.3 load that save and make new states from there.

The page checks the result: its MD5 must be
d91b259ffca3de1d3449a48755f0818e (checksums.txt has the other values).

Fixes

• Terminus Est and Mourneblade: the slash did not appear and the sword did
  no damage. Both now slash and hit, in either hand.
• Maria: hit sounds could cut out while playing as Maria. The sound
  priorities are revised so her hits always play.
• Cursed Prison: the Spear Guards always used their PS1 voices. They now
  follow the dub you chose (PS1, PSP or Japanese).
• Pixie and Nose Devil: with the PS1 dub they spoke Japanese. They now use
  the PSP's English voices, as with the PSP dub.
• Olrox's Quarters (both dubs, since v1.1): the Owl Knight's taunt, attack
  and pain sounds were silent, and some Owl Knight, owl and Gurkha sounds
  played the wrong clip. Every sound there is back in its place.
• Japanese dub: the in-game voices (grunts, bosses, familiars) now play at
  the exact pitch of the Japanese PS1 release. v1.2 got close; this matches
  it. Doppleganger's lines, which could be far off in both dubs, are fixed
  too.
• Prologue, Japanese dub: skipping the Richter / Dracula dialogue with START
  could leave Richter walking left in place with no fight music. Fixed.
• Prologue music: after a Richter or Maria game, resetting and starting an
  Alucard game could lose the Dracula fight music. Fixed.
• Castle Entrance map: after the Alchemy Laboratory, the map could still
  show the old save room's door over the Underground Garden passage
  (Richter and both Marias, and Alucard in an unbroken run). Fixed.
• Cursed Prison (and Soul Prison, Underground Garden): items dropping onto
  the stone pedestal a Red Gargoyle leaves behind (coin bags, hearts,
  equipment...) were drawn behind it. They are now drawn in front.
• PSP Maria: pressing Triangle after a drop kick with no crash available
  left her stuck on the ground. She now returns to her crouch.
• Rainbow Mantle: every so often the cape flashed a different colour for a
  moment. The port had copied a small bug from the Saturn's own cape code
  (its colour wave could overflow into the next colour). The colours now
  shift smoothly.

New

• Horse ride (Richter and Maria): the Saturn's own hoofbeat while
  galloping, and the Saturn's full neigh when the horse rears at the gate,
  made from your Saturn disc.
• Saturn balance, more of the Saturn's own rules:
  • Jewel Sword: each jewel worn as an accessory adds to its attack, as on
    the Saturn (Zircon +1, Aquamarine +3, Turquoise +6, Onyx +10, Garnet
    +16, Opal +23, Diamond +32; two jewels add up).
  • Weapon reach: the Saturn's hitboxes for the Basilard, Holy Rod, Star
    Flail, Nunchaku and Runesword, and longer punches for the four knuckle
    weapons and bare hands.
  • Level-up: if MP was full, it refills to the new maximum.
  • Richter: a new game starts with 100 HP (the prologue stays at 50).
  • Saturn Maria: a new game starts with the Dragon Helm (games already
    started keep what they have).
    PS1 balance keeps the PS1's values for all of these.
• Source code: the mod's full source is now public under the AGPL, as a
  fork of sotn-decomp: https://github.com/renanbianchi/sotn-ultimate
  The README there credits everyone whose work it uses.

Known

• Sunstone and Moonstone follow the Saturn's real-time clock on the Saturn.
  The PS1 has no clock, so they follow play time instead.
• Nose Devil, English voices: the PSP has only four English lines for him
  (the Japanese pack has more), so he speaks less often than in Japanese.