Spyro: A Hero's Tail: v2.0 (Beta Release 1)

v2.0 (Beta Release 1): I Lost A Million Brain Cells

This is the first half of a huge release for A Hero's Tail Archipelago (AHT AP). It is being released on its own for testing purposes, while the second half is worked on (tentatively slated for ~2 weeks from now). Thorough testing and feedback on all new features and changes in this version is requested.

The latest version of the game mod can be found here. Updating it is required for this beta release.

Hotfix 12:15am EDT on 7/17/26: The .apworld link has been updated to include a small fix. The client was marking some items as free automatically if they are deemed important - this is a remnant of restrictive start prevention which is believed to no longer be necessary. Logic was already acting right, but the client was overruling it.

Full Changelog (this is a lot lol. A slightly less detailed copy is included in changelog.txt)

• AHT AP has officially switched hands to me being the primary developer and maintainer. I included a longer blurb from myself in the attached changelog.txt.

• Complete Region Redesign

  • All regions of AHT AP have been redesigned, and the locations within have been reorganized accordingly. Barring some inevitable bugs (most have been found), this should not impact the player experience too much. Logical access to every check has been re-analyzed to fix a number of oddities that were in the previous design.
    • One example of how this helps is that the shop in Stormy Beach now requires Double Jump to access, when before it didn't. Thus, if you start a randomized shop run in Stormy Beach, you will not be expected to buy any items until you have Double Jump.

• Major Feature Addition: New Shop Randomization Behavior

  • AHT AP now supports gem logic. The generator now knows how many gems you can accumulate at any point in generated seeds.
  • The shop, when randomized, utilizes this to now space out the shop items throughout the seed. In your YAML, you will provide information on how much of the game's gems you want to collect, and the generator will decide your shop prices based on that.
  • You will not lose gems when purchasing items in the shop. Each item is instead phrased as "Unlocked at X gems" and once you have X gems, the item unlocks and can be redeemed for free. Future shop items will contain higher prices, ensuring you keep collecting gems.
    • The biggest downside of this change is that the player no longer has a choice in what order to buy their shop items, in this mode. Feedback is especially wanted on if this matters to people much. I am considering re-implementing the old system as a toggle in Beta Release 2.
    • However, the upside is that impossible seeds are much, much more prevented.
      • You will no longer be able to generate a seed with shop prices so high that they are infeasible to handle.
      • There are no longer 18-56 shop checks in sphere 1, which previously led to very frequent situations where you need to buy multiple items at once but can only afford 1-2, leading to potential softlocks.
  • The project's README has been expanded to contain details on how this new system works, in-depth. Some details were not essential to playtesting it, but are very useful to know, so it is strongly encouraged you read it over if you intend to give feedback on it. Sorry it's a bit long lol.

• Universal Tracker (UT) Integration with the AHT Client

  • The AHT AP client now has a "tracker page" which loads info from UT, if installed. This means UT is now a soft requirement for AHT AP.
    • If UT is not installed, the client will default to its old style. This will result in 2 features of shop randomization not working anymore (map icons and the pause screen text about gems) due to the information for them being fueled by UT now.
  • Randomized costs for boss lairs, light gem doors, and gadgets will now report consistently with the generated seed, in the client and in UT.

• Countless changes to the YAML

  • The addition of filler_items, gem_collection, blink_gems, double_gems, randomize_minigames, and teleport_across_realms.
    • filler_items lets you customize the items you can get as filler, including some new types.
    • gem_collection, blink_gems, and double_gems are related to the new shop randomization logic and affect how many gems you will expect to collect, and whether to fully disable Double Gems as an item (gem logic does NOT account for Double Gems).
    • randomize_minigames simplifies the randomizing of minigame rewards into a single option.
    • teleport_across_realms is a quality of life patch which lets you teleport from shop pads in one realm to another directly, without requiring using that realm's realm teleporter.
  • The removal of shop_cost_min and shop_cost_max, as shop prices are determined automatically now.
  • Expansion of starting_breath to allow for choosing any breath explicitly.
  • The renaming of a few options, and a complete analysis and re-writing of many parts of existing options.

• Various Other Additions, Tweaks, And Fixes

  • The client now enforces having the right version of the game mod (currently version 8), refusing to connect if it mismatches.
  • Renamed the project from spyro-aht to spyro_aht.
    • NOTICE: This could lead to issues if you keep the previous .apworld installed. It is strongly advised to go into your custom_worlds folder, in your AP installation directory, and delete your previous spyro-aht.apworld, if you have one.
  • Updated spoiler file output to include new shop randomization information on prices, as well as no longer including starting realm.
  • Fixed a typo in the location group name for Molten Mount (was Moltem Mount).