(shouting)

Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

do you like them video games? what about those there romhacks? well pop on in here and talk about them then! what are you waiting for?!
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by Zha Hong Lang »

Yeah, there were a lot of people who said it was binary after I said it wasn't "debugged" (which, even after getting to know more about programming, I have no idea how that would mean binary and not ASM)

They were right that it wasn't really VB6 source code, but it was actually readable, however bad it looked.
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by Wohlstand »

ano0maly wrote:I also think that this is moving away from the topic at hand, since the "PGE" in this case is the editor, not the engine.
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by ano0maly »

Wohlstand wrote:
ano0maly wrote:I also think that this is moving away from the topic at hand, since the "PGE" in this case is the editor, not the engine.
  • PGE unlike SMBX has splited editor and engine parts
I'm aware, that was specifically in response to RenaTurnip's post.
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by Wohlstand »

ano0maly wrote:
Wohlstand wrote:
ano0maly wrote:I also think that this is moving away from the topic at hand, since the "PGE" in this case is the editor, not the engine.
  • PGE unlike SMBX has splited editor and engine part. Editor is finished and uses as alternate to original SMBX editor.
I'm aware, that was specifically in response to RenaTurnip's post.
Anyway, those 4 items I wrote for you all ;)

(One thing: "you" has two Russian translations: "Ты" - for one person and "Вы" - for multiple persons or for one VIP person who is not your closed friend (For example, your teacher, your boss, or any unknown random passerby in a street)). In English "you" used in any cases.



Also my plans about LunaLUA-SMBX 1.3, SMBX 1.4.1 and PGE:
I wish to cooperate with creator of SMBX 1.4.1 to speed-up of PGE development and bug-fixing in SMBX 1.4.1, so: we are will take full features PGE Engine much faster than we will do reverse-engining weself + SMBX 1.4.1 which will require you no shit to install it. PGE Engine would be a full and stable implementation of SMBX 1.3's gameplay + SMBX 1.4.1's extra features. One thing that Tea Script (part of SMBX 1.4.1) is plain and lacks lots of things which already implemented at LunaLUA side, so, PGE will inhered most of LunaLUA features (except mem-based features) and will be a new Talkhaus's game engine instead of hacked SMBX 1.3.
PGE Engine completely written in C++ unlike both SMBX's which gives maximal performance and stability (because C++ has no shit of VB6 and requires no workarounds which we are totally doing in the LunaLUA). Even I will port SMBX 1.4.1 as-is to C++ with Qt, it will work much stabler and faster than same written in VB6 + Cross-Platform support.

PGE is going to be flexible platform game engine with customizable item-sets (all NPC's, blocks, BGO's, tiles, sceneries, paths, levels, musics, sounds are declared in the configuration package which has lots of INI and LUA-files) while in the SMBX Engines same stuffs are hard-coded.
While PGE Engine in development, documentation lacks lots of things, and also thanks to Hoeloe's suggestions to improve config pack structure to be more user-friendly (which allows more friendly way to make new config pack from scratch).
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by Kevsoft »

I just quote myself, which I have written in the PGE thread:
Kevsoft wrote: There are several things which bothers me:
  • Closed Source.... at the moment. (Really, I don't want to see that happen again)
  • DirectX 8. Yes, this engine uses DirectX 8 as graphics interface. You might ask yourself: "Hey, what's the problem?", well let me copy something from msdn:
    Microsoft Developer Network wrote:Support for the DirectX 7 and DirectX 8 interfaces for Visual Basic 6.0 is not available on Windows Vista.
    . Working with very old technolgy is not a good idea. Especially when new OSes like Windows 8 and Windows 10 are out.
  • TeaScript. I don't want to be mean, but really...? A programming language like Visual Basic which only supports String and Double value. I cannot imaging that you can do complex algorithm with it.
So personally I am not happy with several things of SMBX 1.4.1.
I know, it has been confirmed that DirectX 8 works in Windows 10. However, DirectX 8 is still very old technology.
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by TiKi »

It was recently discovered you could use a config edit to enable a hidden feature. This feature is a hidden math "mini"game that supposedly unlocks an actual editor feature. Unfortunately, it's harder than MegaMan Paradise. I'm offering my 30+MB graphics pack beta as an additional bounty. Instructions to enable the game can be found here. (It was a Reddit post by me).
Hi. If you know of the Mario fan game Super Mario Bros. X, a new version was released soon. http://engine.wohlnet.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=581 But it was discovered that you could change a certain config setting to find a math mini game was in it. This game, if won, will supposedly unlock a new feature that the whole SMBX community can then use by copying the winning user's config file to unlock said feature in their own game. http://engine.wohlnet.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=599 This game is so hard. It starts out easy with negative numbers and algebra, but then you'll find substitution and Euclidian algorithms. My conjecture is that you have to beat 50 questions in a row in 3 hours to unlock the new feature. Example questions: 4 - 5 = ? 3x + 4y = 11. 12 / y = >0 ???33946 is divisible by 93. What is ??? (A 3 digit number) I offer the newest beta of my SMBX graphics mod pack as a bounty. It's all I can do, really. Someone, please complete this mini game even if you don't like making Mario levels all that much. You could be helping hundreds of people if you help us solve this riddle. Thank you for helping.

If you tackle this, bless you and good luck.
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by Ivy »

what the fuck is this, a SMBX ARG?
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by Leet »

109
Well it is a decent hack but sometime its just too repetitif there no level that actually pop in your face and your like oh yeah that level they all ressemble themselves and just monster along the way.
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by Ivy »

Leet wrote:109
someone try this, it's the answer for sure
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by SL the Pyro »

...I... you... what

-there are bugs that are completely different from 1.3 and can't be dealt with in any conventional way due to the new coding language
-the re-done 1.4 is incompatible with most (or all) of the external stuff 1.3 was, thanks again to the new coding language
-the devs are hiding an (apparently important) editor function under a massively-difficult math problem, which seems to exist for no good reason

Am I understanding this correctly? Because if any of the above is true, my answer to the OP question of "Would you use this in place of 1.3?" would be a resounding NO. And if that third point is true, the resounding NO would be followed by this:

Image
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by TiKi »

Thank so! That's actually the answer, but I only know because of someone on Reddit. I'm afraid the time ran out.

Also. It's not one question. That was #42 in my attempt. You have to answer enough questions in a row right to get enough points (wrong answers deduct points) to go over an unknown threshold. To be fair, I have no way of knowing if that's an actually important hidden function. The prize function is... hidden.

Oh and P.S. Dr. 59538538 thinks you need 3 hours to finish this minigame. And the minigame resets automatically at 100 failed questions. He thinks those are what you need to be equipped for success. 3 hours and 100 fails.
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by Wohlstand »

SL the Pyro wrote:...I... you... what

-there are bugs that are completely different from 1.3 and can't be dealt with in any conventional way due to the new coding language
-the re-done 1.4 is incompatible with most (or all) of the external stuff 1.3 was, thanks again to the new coding language
-the devs are hiding an (apparently important) editor function under a massively-difficult math problem, which seems to exist for no good reason

Am I understanding this correctly? Because if any of the above is true, my answer to the OP question of "Would you use this in place of 1.3?" would be a resounding NO. And if that third point is true, the resounding NO would be followed by this:

Image
It is not a new codding language, SMBX 1.4 written in same VB6, but author wish to have new file formats and all graphics forcedly converting into PNG. (PGE supports that stuff and supports conversion from gifs to png, but I doesn't that forcedly, it even includes backward tool to convert png to gifs).
Author of SMBX 1.4 recoded it from scratch and most of SMBX 1.3's bugs are escaped, but new bugs are implemented :-P
Also, that EXE packed with PE Compact (more detail info in the PAiD tool) and ifo you wish disassemble it, unpack exe first.

Tiki, I think, he did that just to prepare to math exam (he is a student)
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by Leet »

I think what a lot of people aren't realizing is that this is probably just some guy's pet project to see if they can add to smbx. I doubt they were aware of any of the complicated stuff we've been doing with it until recently, when they were contacted regarding it.
Well it is a decent hack but sometime its just too repetitif there no level that actually pop in your face and your like oh yeah that level they all ressemble themselves and just monster along the way.
Blood Ghoul wrote:Sometimes it seems my blood spurts out in gobs, as if it were a fountain's pulsing sobs. I clearly hear it mutter as it goes yet cannot find the wound from which it flows. Before I met you, baby, I didn't know what I was missing.
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by Zha Hong Lang »

Leet wrote:I think what a lot of people aren't realizing is that this is probably just some guy's pet project to see if they can add to smbx. I doubt they were aware of any of the complicated stuff we've been doing with it until recently, when they were contacted regarding it.
have you coded in VB6 before? It's definitely not a walk in the park, and someone can't just bodge up a program the size of smbx with it if they just feel like doing it. I mean, If it were Java or C++ or some other thing (maybe even a more recent version of Visual Basic, at the very least) that would make sense. It seems a lot more intentional and focused (but also stupid) because they're using VB6. To be fair, they were very likely not aware of the other features we've created in recent years, but I don't think this thing's some little pet project.
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by SAJewers »

Wohlstand wrote:
SL the Pyro wrote:...I... you... what

-there are bugs that are completely different from 1.3 and can't be dealt with in any conventional way due to the new coding language
-the re-done 1.4 is incompatible with most (or all) of the external stuff 1.3 was, thanks again to the new coding language
-the devs are hiding an (apparently important) editor function under a massively-difficult math problem, which seems to exist for no good reason

Am I understanding this correctly? Because if any of the above is true, my answer to the OP question of "Would you use this in place of 1.3?" would be a resounding NO. And if that third point is true, the resounding NO would be followed by this:

Image
It is not a new codding language, SMBX 1.4 written in same VB6, but author wish to have new file formats and all graphics forcedly converting into PNG. (PGE supports that stuff and supports conversion from gifs to png, but I doesn't that forcedly, it even includes backward tool to convert png to gifs).
Author of SMBX 1.4 recoded it from scratch and most of SMBX 1.3's bugs are escaped, but new bugs are implemented :-P
Also, that EXE packed with PE Compact (more detail info in the PAiD tool) and ifo you wish disassemble it, unpack exe first.

Tiki, I think, he did that just to prepare to math exam (he is a student)
Best way to think of it would be another attempt to replace SMBX with a new thing, similar to that Radish Engine thing someone was working on years ago.
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by raekuul »

Ignoritus wrote: 1. Installation appears to be a massive pain in the ass.
2. Since this seems to be a rewrite, there are minor differences and certain bugs not present in the original.
3. The new content does not blend seamlessly. Note for example how the new powerups don't actually play the powerup sound.
4. No compatibility with LunaXXX.
5. You have to set your system language into chinese every time you want to launch the game.

Fortunately however for issues 2-4, Wohlstand and a few others have been attempting to contact the creator in order to see if he's willing to share the source. If he were, all of these issues could be resolved.
  1. Is there the standard zipfile unpaking option? If so, this can be overlooked.
  2. A rewrite is good, because it gives a chance to fix the bugs already present in 1.3 (and can give us a clean break from the hacky patchy version we're using now)
  3. In other words, either the code isn't object oriented (unlikely) or the base object for powerups doesn't have a powerup sound property (more likely)
  4. This one's probably a deal breaker for most. I haven't really mucked around with Luna stuff yet so it's not a deal breaker for me, but this is a thing that needs to be addressed.
  5. I have no idea how to respond to this one, so I shall simply assume it will be fixed before 1.4 gets released for public consumption.
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by TiKi »

I used Cheat Engine to view all text strings in the .exe. Down the rabbit hole we go...

http://engine.wohlnet.ru/forum/viewtopi ... 4095#p4095
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by Grounder »

wow, we skipped six whole iterations

they must have sucked
Why don't you eat me?

I am perfectly tasty...

AND I'LL STEAL YOUR SOUL! :twisted:

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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by raekuul »

It's not wholly irrelevant - if we can get our hands on the source code from 1.4 (which as I understand is derived from a decompiled 1.3) we don't need to use code injection to patch any more (LunaXXX is code injection as the original executable has no inherent support), we can muck with the code directly.
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by Wohlstand »

raekuul wrote:It's not wholly irrelevant - if we can get our hands on the source code from 1.4 (which as I understand is derived from a decompiled 1.3) we don't need to use code injection to patch any more (LunaXXX is code injection as the original executable has no inherent support), we can muck with the code directly.
Look: most of our new code (LunaDLL/LunaLUA) are written in C++ (include autocode and lua scripting engines), so, to make that be available in the VisualBasic-based game, we are must make COM-objects proxies for that stuff. However, we are don't like VisualBasic as platform because buggy, because need to do lot of workarounds for making small feature in VisualBasic, because it is NOT cross-platform, so, source code will be used just to speed-up PGE Engine development (which completely written in C++) and we are will finally move to the new engine which will work fast, stable, and everything which we are will make will work on any machines.
Another con of VisualBasic-made projects: lots of troubles with installing of COM-components on another computers which makes entire technology to be like shit even it's an excellent idea to allow code different parts of same project in different languages.

Note: don't try to port that into .NET, because that is not cross-platform too, even if you wish to use Mono to still use .NET, we are must not to use VisualStudio because in most cases resulted code partially is not compatible with Mono (Windows.Forms, Windows-specific features, and even some most-common features, however GTH# is fine but it has poor feature set)
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by Zha Hong Lang »

Did 5438A38A ever get back to you, Wohlstand?
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Re: Let's Talk SMBX 1.4

Post by Wohlstand »

Jayoshi wrote:Did 5438A38A ever get back to you, Wohlstand?
Yes, I'm contacting with him via QQ (Chinese messenger)
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