ROBO GO: STAGE REVIVAL SYSTEM ----------------------------- The Robo Go stage-saving system was created so that old stages may be imported into the latest engine, for a nostalgic experience with more solid gameplay. :) It may obviously, though, be used to create new stages that everyone can play without needing to download a brand new game file. HOW IT WORKS (Basic, essential knowledge to utilize the system effectively) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note that the system is entirely NAME-BASED. This means that, so long as an object in an older engine has the name of an object in the new engine, it will be replaced by the object of the same name when the stage is revived into the new engine. In this way, to add a new-engine essential to a stage - in this example, a central checkpoint - simply duplicate a checkpoint, name it checkpointtele, and place this object into the stage where you want the central checkpoint to appear. If an object has a name that IS NOT supported by the newest engine, it will simply be replaced by an explosion in the revived stage. In this way, anyone who plays the revived stage can know that there was an object there, but may never know what it was. It is also suggested that, any items you don't want to show up in the new engine (such as a secret weapon) be replaced by an explosion, or something less "harmful" (such as changing an infinitewecapsule to a werestorecapsule). It is obviously a pain to go into the superbly lengthy text file (which will probably be encoded anyways) and change the name of each object individually. If you use the stage_save_editnames() script instead of just stage_save(), however, the save system notifies you of each object's original name as it saves them, and allows you to change them then and there, before it writes to the file. BACKGROUNDS NOTICE: When renaming backgrounds, do NOT rename backgrounds, unless you absolutely want a background there. Keeping it tells the stage loader to simply make the background invisible, which avoids most potential ugliness. RECOMMENDED OLD ENGINE > NEW ENGINE OBJECT NAME REPLACEMENTS ------------------------------------------------------------ Note that for all objects listed here, name-replacement is entirely optional. Such objects will, however, become explosions in the new engine, should you neglect to rename them. This list is in the works. invis_simplesolid1 - backsolid bulletblockgold - soleblock/bulletblock/sandblock BulletBlockH - sandblock/soleblock/bulletblock End - telenext/teleback checkpointHUB (not central/tele) - checkpointtemp Invis Death, InvisDeath - invisdeath SREUpCapsule - sreupcapsule GreyRobot - robot JRBsolid - antimattersolid JRBInvisibleSolid - backsolid Warning - gg_warning object9342 - gg_futurefire Checkpoint1 (for old stages where there weren't checkpoints 1, 2, 3, etc.) - checkpointwhite ^^^ If you have a stage that only uses checkpointwhites, a checkpointtele (central) is not necessary. NECESSARY OLD ENGINE > NEW ENGINE BACKGROUND NAME REPLACEMENTS -------------------------------------------------------------- Unless you want the background of the imported stage to look pretty ugly, make sure you replace old background names with the corresponding names, as shown in the list below. Of course, you could replace a background with an entirely different one if you wanted, like if it fit the stage better or something. It is also necessary, often, to change the background order from old stages to the order of all new-engine stages. This is as follows: 0 = Lower layer. From older stages, this will usually convert to wires, or something of the like. In some newer stages, this is the faint-lights background (wiresback) that parallaxes behind said wires. 1 = Upper layer. Don't use this unless you plan to do dual-layer parallaxing, which is for example the aforementioned wiresback on background 0, and then wires on background 1 (this layer). Older stages never used this feature, however, and it can be laggy, so it's wise to keep this . 2 = Sky layer. Obviously, just put the sky background here, whether it be sunset, nightsky, etc. 3 = Horizon/ground layer. This is what defines where the sky ends and the underground begins. This is most often background2 in older stages. The following are necessary name replacements: background0 - sunset background652 - gg_background ??? - ??? NEW ENGINE ESSENTIALS (And the best methods to put them into old-engine stages for saving) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Before making changes to an OLD stage, I recommend that you make a copy of the original .gmd file containing the stage. checkpointtele - This is the central checkpoint; necessary if you add or have any of the numbered checkpoints, or a checkpointtemp. The quickest way to get this in an old stage is to duplicate a checkpoint, name it checkpointtele, and place it where you want the central checkpoint to be in the new engine. slotswitchstation - Obviously, if you want the player to be able to change their weapon, you need some of these lyings around in the stage. Use the same method as checkpointtele to get them into old-engine stages. controlstation - Not really necessary, but you might consider adding an easy-to-reach place for a player to configure their controls on the fly. Use the same method for importing as the above two.