Metroid: Other M Redux
(Based on Other M - Maxximum Edition hack)
(Based on Other M - Maxximum Edition hack)
Lately, I've been delving into some of the improvement hacks for the Metroid series over the years, and while I have already played and downloaded a few of them, there's one in particular that caught my interest.
- Metroid Other M Maxximum Edition: Reddit Release Link
- Full playthrough playlist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5D3oCB5cbQss4H5FyOfZzBZHP-55h6s4
- Maxximum Edition Mirror at Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/metroid-other-m-maxximum-edition
- "Other M Redux" finished project files for testing:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/z8bqu12b3fe0prd/AABROeNsIek28jzKkYXtQH6Pa?dl=0
However, there are still some changes that I find odd or somewhat badly implemented, which I'd like to touch upon:
- The cutscenes have been heavily reworked to deal with some of the idiotic story points that are deeply hated from this game. Still though, some of the cutscene editing is either decent, or bad at times (with all due respet to the original devs), with some really choppy cutoffs and some of the new voice overs just sound somewhat cringy. While I don't think most of Samus' inner monologues are bad per-se, as some do add to the story, complete removal of most of them feels a little excessive.
- There's also the OST being completely changed to more familiar tunes from the Metroid franchise (mainly seems to be Prime and Fusion tracks more than others). While this might be welcomed by some, I feel like just shoehorning tracks from other games into Other M takes away from the experience, at least to me.
I'd like to further rework the audio and videos of this hack, to make it a more polished product and a much better version of Other M for Metroid fans to enjoy.
Here's my notes on the changes and what I have so far:
VideosAudioTextModelsCheat code
Rework the cutscenes to a more "presentable" state. Some of the trimming and audio removal/insertion feels tacky, specifically the first cutscenes up to the first breifing with Adam. Here's a list of the cutscenes from Maxximum Edition I think could need some rework:
- Starting cutscenes need heavy re-editing work up to the first briefing with Adam, the one after the training simulation is a clear example.
- dm01to02 (Pending):
Intro cutscene with the Super Metroid ending and up to the start of the training sequence. All inner dialogues will be removed, but the rest will be kept intact. Possibly adding a video/image sequence here in the flashback of Samus after returning to Zebes that shows the "Hyper Beam damaged the suit, autorepair mode enabled". No voice-over will be used. - dm03to04 (COMPLETED):
Cutscene after finishing training, with the scientist talking to Samus and directing her to the meeting room. Most of the redundant baby talk is cut, the only monologue that was kept for this project is the Prologue monologue when Samus is on her ship and receives the distress signal, to resemble the opening lines Samus gives in other games (Fusion, Zero Mission, etc.). The cringe closing line "Baby's cry... It was as though it was crying specifically for me..." was cut as well.
- dm06_01 (ORIGINAL):
Will be kept as the original, exact same movie except with lower quality (Adam encounter and Power Suit cutscene). - dm08_01 (COMPLETED):
Encounter with the first boss. This one might need just the removal of Samus' monologue, while still keeping her words aimed to Adam, everything else can stay as in the original. Also, edit the researcher's corpse in this scene to have red/blood stains instead of green (to match the modified model). Keeping track of the corpse with a good video editor and changing the hue of the stains is good enough for our purposes.
- dm09_02 (COMPLETED):
After first boss fight. Adam and Samus relationship explained through Samus' inner monologue. This one is quite an extensive cutscene, which does shed some light as to how Samus saw Adam and what her past was like in her younger years under the Federation. Given the importance of the scene, and since it doesn't really have cringe-worthy material, it could probably be left as-is with little to no touch ups to Samus' dialogue. Deleting Deleting "...or used kid gloves because I was a woman" and "Confession time" lines is a must though, that crap's cringe af, pretty much that'd be the only change in this cutscene.
- dm33to34 (COMPLETED):
Important story detail about Ivan Malkovich and why Samus left the Galactic Federation. Will be left as the original, simply remove the last 20 seconds of Samus' monologue about the "question", and that should be it for this one.
- dm36to43 (COMPLETED):
Ridley cutscenes. These ones need a proper reediting. Shortening or trimming certain section to remove the PTSD crap, but still keeping the girl Samus scene, and then Ridley quickly grabs her could be a possible way to make this scene way better without changing too much of it.
Here's the finished version of this one after reediting (not final but close to it, have yet to upload the final version which has better audio mixing):
- dm46to49 (COMPLETED):
Samus encounter with MB and discovery of the Metroid clones. Still left to be decided what will be changed from this one or not. - dm52to56 (COMPLETED):
Sector Zero cutscenes. The way Maxximum handled it is quite fine, although it could probably be better to keep the entire starting section as in the original, and then cut-off the part where Samus immaturely starts saying the same thing from the Ivan Malkovich cutscene.
- dm61to63A (COMPLETED):
Samus and true Madeline encounter. Cut out Samus' monologues (About Madeline, about the Baby,and the 3rd/4th/5th/6th monologues only silence her lines), like Maxximum did, while only the rest remains intact. Also, silence Madeline's "You... I mean," and only start at the "we were wrong" part. Also, if possible, change Samus' colors to match the new Gravity Suit by Maxximum's new model (since at this point, Samus has already activated the Gravity feature after Sector Zero's destruction). - dm63Bto64 (COMPLETED):
Ending cutscene with Madeline, MB and the Galactic Federation. Maxximum did a good job here, although it takes away from Madeline's character to have Samus fire the Ice Beam. The original might be kept, still remains to be confirmed. Also, if possible, change Samus' colors to match the new Gravity Suit by Maxximum's new model.
- dm01to02 (Pending):
- Starting cutscenes need heavy re-editing work up to the first briefing with Adam, the one after the training simulation is a clear example.
Restore the original OST from Other M. I flat out dislike shoving other Metroid games' OST just for nostalgia sake or having some background music, as it takes away from the game's original soundtrack. I'll keep the original music from Other M, even if it's minimal at best.
- All of the "bgm_m..." tracks (battle, jingle, results, silence, navigation room, stages sounds) BGMs will be removed from Maxximum edition and the original's will be used from the original game. None of Maxximum's "bgm_m" files will be used. (Maybe a jingle one might be used, if a better short jingle is made or found).
- The "se_char_adam_voice_ingame" sounds will be Maxximum's, as these are the audio tracks that tell Samus to authorize certain abilities.
- Most of the cutscenes in the game are in-game, while the audio is kept as a separate file. I made a special SoundCloud playlist with all of the edited tracks, you can listen to them here:
I also tracked down the files that have been changed, and these are my notes for all of them:- se_char_adam_voice_ingame_05 (Maxximum):
"Looks like the normal beam won't have any impact on the enemies around here"
Silence - se_char_adam_voice_ingame_06 (Maxximum):
"Samus, use your Ice Beam"
Silence - se_char_adam_voice_ingame_11(Maxximum):
"The most efficient way through here should be delivering shoulder impacts with your Speed Booster"
Silence - se_char_adam_voice_ingame_12 (Maxximum):
"So I'm authorizing its use"
Silence - se_char_adam_voice_ingame_39 (Maxximum):
"Samus, activate the Varia feature on your suit to protect yourself from heat damage!"
Silence - se_char_adam_voice_ingame_43 (Maxximum):
"Samus! You need a permeating shot effect to get past this! I'm authorizing you to unlock your Wave Beam!"
Silence - se_char_adam_voice_ingame_48 (Maxximum):
"Samus, use of the Grapple Beam is authorized!"
Silence - se_rtm_dm06_se.aix (COMPLETED)
Anthony Higgs and Adam introduction monologues by Samus when first encountering the squad.
The Anthony monologue will be removed, the only monologue that will be kept is that of Adam and Samus' background with him. The other monologues from this audio will be removed. - se_rtm_dm07_se.aix (COMPLETED)
"Adam hadn't authorized it, but I decided to remain on site for the sake of the others" and the end of the audio
Keep this change, simply make it better quality. - se_rtm_dm10_se.aix (COMPLETED)
Adam's briefing audio. This is one of the audios that clash with Prime's narrative about Samus working with the Galactic Federation before, that bit will be removed entirely to keep consistency with the Prime games. - se_rtm_dm11_01_se.aix (COMPLETED)
Samus' monologue when encountering the researcher's corpse. This monologue could possibly be removed altogether, we can keep the one from Maxximum for this one as it doesn't add to the story, simply redone from scratch for better quality. - se_rtm_dm13_se.aix (COMPLETED)
Samus' monologue when seeing Lil' Birdie (Ridley's infant stage) eating the remains of the boss she just defeated. The monologue doesn't add anything, we can remove the monologue without issues. However, the audio from Maxximum has a bug with this audio, so it should be made from scratch. - se_rtm_dm16_se.aix (COMPLETED)
Briefing when recovering the data from the building before Ridley's teenage fight.
Samus' monologue about the use of bioweapons for military use. This adds nothing, will be removed. We can use Maxximum's audio for this one. - se_rtm_dm21_se.aix (ORIGINAL)
After the teenage Ridley fight, talk with Anthony and finding the carcass of the infant Ridley.
Don't know why this was an additional audio for Maxximum's, is the exact same in both versions, this one will be kept as-is from the original game. - se_rtm_dm23_se.aix (COMPLETED)
After the teenage Ridley fight, talk with Anthony and finding the carcass of the infant Ridley.
Samus' continued monologue about the bioweapons thoughts, and having to find Madeline. Can be removed as it adds nothing to the story, will use Maxximum's editing but made from scratch. - se_rtm_dm24_01_se.aix (COMPLETED)
Gigafraug's carcass/husk encounter, and Samus' inner monologue about Metroids being the cause.
Most of the monologue will be reworked to remove the start of the monologue, and the rest will be her words about it being Metroid Predation, asking herself if they're the Metroids are there, and that they cannot withstand cold temperatures. - se_rtm_dm29_se.aix (COMPLETED)
Samus' monologue after fighting the traitor in the Bulldozer. The monologue will be removed, with Samus only words being her realizing there's a traitor among them. - se_rtm_dm30_se.aix (ORIGINAL)
Elevator monologue about Bottle Ship becoming a replica of Zebes. This one is important, the original will be kept. Besides, without the audio, the scene just feels... Dull. It also fits with other entries giving Samus' inner monologues during Elevators, like Fusion does (which actually makes the connection rather well if taken this into consideration). - se_rtm_dm34_se.aix (COMPLETED)
Samus & Anthony talk about what happened during the Ian Malkovich event. Important, will be kept.
However, the monologue after second 45 will be removed, as it isn't important and just feels odd. - se_rtm_dm44_se.aix (COMPLETED)
Samus' monologue after defeating Ridley, and thinking about Anthony's "death". The monologue doesn't add anything important, the one from Maxximum's will be used here remade from scratch for better quality. - se_rtm_dm45_se.aix (COMPLETED)
Samus' thoughts about Adam knowing about the Deleter during another elevator scene. As with the previous Elevator scene, this one will be kept, for added story plots and connection with Fusion's monologues on Elevators as well. However, the "Something was gnawing at me", "If that was the case then... Why couldn't I reach him?" and "My racing thoughts started to frustrate me" will be removed from this track. - se_rtm_dm51_se.aix (COMPLETED)
Samus' encounter with the Baby Metroid at the entrance of Sector Zero.
Use Maxximum's for this one, just because it removes the overused "A baby..." word. - se_rtm_dm65_01_se.aix (ORIGINAL)
Samus' monologue about returning to the Bottle Ship after the end of the game. Maxximum's just has silence here... Why? The original will be kept.
- se_char_adam_voice_ingame_05 (Maxximum):
All of the movie subtitles seem to be inside the message/message_all.dat file. This file might need to be edited to fit the audio changes in some of the cutscenes, so they don't show up on scene. This could probably be easily achieved by simply replacing the text with spaces in the file.
Although, it remains to be seen if the subtitles/text can be implemented at specific frames of a cutscene for those that are heavily re-edited.
The Maxximum team did an awesome job with all of the model work for sure.
The only thing that might need to be added is a proper Power Suit model for Samus, so when she activates the Varia suit, you can visually notice the change in her shoulder pads. Outside of that, I don't see much reason to modify any of the models from Maxximum's.
For documentation purposes, here are the model files for Samus:
- 0 - samus_normal (Power Suit Samus In-game?, not 100% sure)
- 252 - rtm_samus_normal (Power Suit, Possibly cutscenes model?)
- 253 - rtm_samus_barrier (Varia suit, Possibly cutscenes model?)
- 254 - rtm_samus_gravity (Gravity suit, Possibly cutscenes model?)
- 255 - rtm_samus_old (Old Power Suit? Possibly cutscenes model?)
- 335 - samus_barrier (Varia Suit Samus In-game)
- 336 - samus_gravity (Gravity Suit Samus In-game)
- 337 - rtm_samus_normal (Power Suit, where is this model used in-game? Cutscenes maybe?)
The following cheat code is required so the game can effectively use Missiles while in 3rd Person, otherwise, said feature won't work.
This cheat code needs to be converted to proper PPC assembly code and injected into the game (probably inside the boot.dol of Other M), so we can have the 3rd Person Missile feature inside the ISO as well.
For the standalone Gecko code in text format, you can get it here:
Code:282DBEC2 00008100 00CA4F45 00000001 E0000000 80008000 0454E368 38000001 0454D9F4 3B600001 0454D9CC 3B600001 0454D9AC 3B600002 0454D998 3B600003 4E000010 00000000 C2699544 00000003 80630004 48000009 DDDDDDDD 7D8802A6 906C0000 DEADFACE 32000000 00000000 20C78980 00000000 282DBEC2 FBFF0400 0454D9F4 3B600004 0454D9CC 3B600004 0454D9AC 3B600005 0454D998 3B600006 E0000000 80008000 045713D0 60000000 06AFC9F4 00000008 43B40000 42F00000
Or if you want the Gecko code in a GCT-ready format, as well as a Riivolution patch for easy loading in a real Wii/Dolphin, you can try the Riivolution+Gecko.zip pack which includes both the GCT and the Riivolution XML file.
NOTE: In order to load Maxximum/Redux Edition properly, you need both the Riivolution file AND the Gecko GCT code running! As the Riivolution file doesn't include the Gecko code by default.
While the models are something I don't intend on touching, most of them are just numbered files with no extension in the ISO, but they are apparently BRES files, as one can notice by opening one of them in a Hex editor and seeing the string "bres" in the header of the file.
Lastly, there are 4 specific files that I don't know what they are, nor how to visualize them.
They're (extensionless) files 3170, 3293, 3294 and 3295. I know that file 3293 is the one that loads the "Maxximum Edition" subtitle in the title screen, 3294 is the one for the Japanese language, and 3295 seems to be for the title screen glows and other stuff, but aside from that, I don't know how to see it or change it, same for the other 3 files. They seem to hold brlan and brlyt files inside, but without a way to open them, I don't know how to extract them.
If anyone is willing to help out with this project, any kind of help will be greatly appreciated!
More so the cutscenes, I feel like those are the most annoying and the ones that could really benefit the most from a proper re-edit.
For those interested in contributing to this project, please leave a comment with any kind of suggestion or resource!
Converting videos to SFD:
Method #1 (Recommended)Method #2 (Suggested by re4HD dev, Albert)Method #3 (Not recommended)
Link to Reddit thread for the conversion (click on the spoiler tag to open it in-post):
For Windows, is as easy as changing the compatibility mode of the installer to Windows 95, and that makes it install the software properly.
From there, it's a matter of simply using ffmpeg to convert whichever video one has into the proper m1v+wav formats, as described with the commands listed in that Reddit thread.
A conversion method suggested by the re4HD developer, Albert Marin.
The suggested conversion is as follows:
Albert Marin said:
This method is not really recommended, as SFD2MPG is confirmed to give framerate issues on converting SFDs to MPG files):
Shadow's notes said:
Additional help thread in Romhacking.net:
https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=33713.msg421068#msg421068
Last edited by ShadowOne333,
