ROM Hack Metroid: Other M Redux (Based on Maxximum Edition)

[ShadowOne333]

EDIT: With all of that being said, since you're someone that apparently used burned discs, I must ask - within the last 7 or so years, has there been any benefit to burning optical discs rather than using a USB loader? (not counting warm fuzzies from physically inserting a disc into a game console... which isn't really something I know about anyway since I grew up with cartridges on consoles and discs on PC, and the GameCube was top-loading with small discs and therefore "feels" very different; the GameCube and Wii are the only disc-based consoles I own, and I guess a PS4 that a friend is perpetually loaning to me)

Thing is, being quite the hardware computer geek (not software - I can't code worth a darn!) that tends to get all of my friends and relative's older PC parts through the motto of "don't throw it away, throw it my way!", I'm kind of spoiled for choice when it comes to spare 2.5" SATA drives that I have just laying around unused, so all it took was a known-working $10 USB-SATA adapter and I was set to use whatever drive I wanted (...though not before I went through like 6 different USB flash drives of extremely hit-and-miss compatibility which is actually why I bit the bullet and went the USB-SATA adapter route instead which "just worked" first try).

Oh I never really hardmodded any of the consoles since the Wii and onwards, they've all been softmodded on my end.
The burned disks stuff was possible thanks to modified IOS on the Wii side (the famous CIOS). That's how I recall doing it

As for your question on the possible benefits of running the burned disk, possibly two:
1) Recreation ISO with Other M "Redux" already burned into i.
2) Burning the original Other M ISO, the Wii might read it as an original disk and this could allow for an easy way to side load with Riivolution... maybe? Without the hassle of making the ISO from scratch with all the mods patched in.

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

Protip: disk and disc actually refer to two different things; the gist is that, if it's in the form of a disc (as in a frizbee, flying saucer, etc), then it's a "disc" (applies to CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, etc); if not, then it's a "disk" (applies to hard disks, floppy disks, Nintendo 64 Disk Drive, probably flash memory cards and the like as well)

The technical definition historically was that magnetic media = disk with a k while optical media = disc with a c, but flash memory kind of makes that distinction less useful.

As for your question on the possible benefits of running the burned disk, possibly two:
1) Recreation ISO with Other M "Redux" already burned into i.
2) Burning the original Other M ISO, the Wii might read it as an original disk and this could allow for an easy way to side load with Riivolution... maybe? Without the hassle of making the ISO from scratch with all the mods patched in.

I kind of meant the benefit of burned vs using a USB ISO loader... I'm not understanding how #1 is a unique benefit for specifically a burned disc only.

Now #2 is an interesting one - I know when I tried it for GameCube games that I had to use a different loader (NeoGamma) when it came to only having a soft-modded console. So #2 would possibly work if your console is hard-modded.


That being said, I want to elaborate on what I mentioned in my previous post that using Dolphin to modify an ISO is actually very easy and would "just work" as long as the resulting ISO is under 4GB or you're copying it to an NTFS partition, and should similarly be quite a bit easier if not at least quicker than burning a disc (it's only as many steps as listed because I really broke it down)

Feb 2022 UPDATE: this method currently does not work if you want to boot on real hardware - see also: this Dolphin forum thread

1. in Dolphin, right-click on (unmodified) Other M and select Properties
2. click on the Filesystem tab
3. right-click on "Disc" and select Extract Entire Disc
4. choose a location where you want to extract to and click Select Folder
5. wait a bit (the progress bar and percentage completed will be deceptive)
6. navigate to the location mentioned in #4 and go into DATA -> files
7. put all of Maxximum Edition's modified files in there, overwriting any existing files
8. in Dolphin, make sure that the location mentioned in step #4 is in Dolphin's "Paths" so that Dolphin can find it - it should then appear on Dolphin's game list
9. right-click on the newly-appeared game and select Convert File...
10. make sure "Format" is set to ISO and then click Convert...
11. type the file name of your choice and select a location to save a new ISO and click Save

Afterwards you can then optionally put the newly-created ISO from step #11 on to your soft-modded Wii's SD card or USB drive using the exact same folder name and file name used by unmodified Other M.


Fun fact: you can also use Dolphin to determine what the folder name needs to be for use with USB loaders in their "wbfs" folder (this works for gamecube games as well in the "games" folder but with the iso named "game.iso" instead):

1. in Dolphin, right-click on your desired game and select Properties
2. click on the Info tab
3. in the "Name" field, look at the text before '(Disc' - in our case it's METROID Other M
4. in the "Game ID" field, look at the initial 6-digit value - in our case it's R3OE01
5. therefore in your "wbfs" folder, create a new folder named METROID Other M [R3OE01] (the "Game ID" must be in brackets!) - I recommend copy & pasting the values directly from Dolphin so as to not mix up the number zero with the letter "oh"
6. put the game ISO inside of the newly-created folder (the folder you just created in step #5)
7. the ISO's file name should be the "Game ID" withOUT brackets, in our case R3OE01.iso

It should then "just work" unless you were using the Japanese region of the game, in which case Dolphin would have listed the "Game ID" as R3OJ01 instead.

 

[ShadowOne333]

Ah interesting thing about disk/disc
I always tended to use them interchangeably, so it's good to finally know when to properly use each one.
Thanks for the explanation.

The method to convert to a proper ISO based on the source files, this will be of great help to make the conversion and creation of a standalone ISO for Other M Redux without much hassle.

I have been doing a lot of testing lately with what I had, this includes the SFD files, AIX files and extensionless files (models), and most stuff works right from the get go.

• The AIX files I have edited all work now and are properly converted. This went quite pain-free.
  
  
• The models that were being used for cutscenes (rtm_samus*) I have modified using BrawlCrate to import the textures from the ones in-game, so now they look the same as the ones in-game. There two points to be made for this:
  • Model #255 contains a model called "rtm_samus_old". This seems to be a beta or unused model of Samus in her original Power Suit (wihout the Varia Suit's shoulder pads). I have imported the textures from the Maxximum's power Suit into this model, but it would be a nice thing if this model could ported to the in-game one, so we have a proper Power Suit in-game instead of the Varia with yellow colours. It might be possible, but I have never done any model editing, so this is out of my league at the moment. For those interested, file 255 is the Beta Power Suit, while file 0 is the one for Power Suit in-game. Files 252 and 337 might also need to be modified if the beta Power Suit is implemented.
  • While I have modified the "rtm_samus_gravity" model to now have the proper colors of the in-game Gravity Suit from Maxximum, it seems the game still loads up the Varia Suit colors in certain cutscenes. The game might be pulling the "rtm_samus_barrier" model for almost every cutscene instead of the proper "rtm_samus_gravity" model. I need to see if I can find the file that determines which model is loaded for each cutscene.
    
• Most SFDs I had atm are working too... Except one in particular. (All of them were tested using the Theater Mode option).
  For some reason, dm63Bto64.sfd (the Ending cutscene where the Federation shows up to shoot MB, "Chapter 25" in Theater mode iirc) has a weird bug when loading up in Dolphin.
  Once the SFD gets triggered, the game kinda freezes for a bit, and after a minute or so, the SFD starts playing properly.
  Interestingly enough, the same result is also reproducible when using the Maxximum Edit file for it, so I'm not sure if it's a conversion issue or a Dolphin issue. Remains to be seen, but at least the rest of the SFDs are all working properly with no issues at all.
  
  
• The subtitles I can edit easily now as well, I have been hiding some text that was removed from the new cutscenes/audio.
  The only issue with this, is that I cannot modify when the subtitles appear or in what frames they show up. I tried screwing around with the message_all.dat file to see if I could find where this data for when the subtitles appear is stored at, but I couldn't find anything about that.
  If anyone knows a way to modify when the subtitles appear, or which files is the one that holds the frame data for the subtitles, please let me know, as this is required for the Sector Zero and Ridley cutscenes so the subtitles match the new edits.

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

The method to convert to a proper ISO based on the source files, this will be of great help to make the conversion and creation of a standalone ISO for Other M Redux without much hassle.

It may also be worth mentioning that Dolphin's "RVZ" format (which you can select instead of ISO) compresses pretty darned well and "just works" in Dolphin. ...but is incompatible with real hardware because RVZ as a format is only like a year old and nobody with the correct know-how in the Wii hacking space seems interested in such a thing (it apparently would require new custom IOS)

For some reason, dm63Bto64.sfd (the Ending cutscene where the Federation shows up to shoot MB, "Chapter 25" in Theater mode iirc) has a weird bug when loading up in Dolphin.
Once the SFD gets triggered, the game kinda freezes for a bit, and after a minute or so, the SFD starts playing properly.

This reminds me of the very first opening cutscene (the recreation of the mother brain battle from Super Metroid) where, with Maxximum Edition (at least in Dolphin), it seems to freeze for half of a second when it shows the inside of Samus' arm cannon which does not occur with the unmodified SFD (I have not tested this on real hardware).

I don't suppose that's not an issue for your version? Or are you leaving that specific cutscene unmodified?

Interestingly enough, the same result is also reproducible when using the Maxximum Edit file for it, so I'm not sure if it's a conversion issue or a Dolphin issue. Remains to be seen, but at least the rest of the SFDs are all working properly with no issues at all.

If you really want, I could try it on real hardware - I could probably cheat and replace all of the other SFD files with tiny ones so that the ISO size is smaller than 4GB.

 

[ShadowOne333]

This reminds me of the very first opening cutscene (the recreation of the mother brain battle from Super Metroid) where, with Maxximum Edition (at least in Dolphin), it seems to freeze for half of a second when it shows the inside of Samus' arm cannon which does not occur with the unmodified SFD (I have not tested this on real hardware).

I don't suppose that's not an issue for your version? Or are you leaving that specific cutscene unmodified?


If you really want, I could try it on real hardware - I could probably cheat and replace all of the other SFD files with tiny ones so that the ISO size is smaller than 4GB.

I do plan on modifying the Intro cutscene, but only with very minor stuff (cutting Samus' lines during the whole Super Metroid flashback and other minor stuff), and adding a custom monitor image when the scientists are checking Samus that says the bit about the suit being damaged due to Hyper Beam and that it will enter auto-repair mode, all visually instead of inserted voice acting (like Maxximum did).

I don't have anything done for that cutscene yet, but I did a quick conversion for the Intro cutscene as-is with the method I'm doing it to make a smaller SFD of the same video. I also added all the other SFDs for the videos I have edited so far to this link:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/z8bqu12b3fe0prd/AABROeNsIek28jzKkYXtQH6Pa?dl=0

If you could try both the Intro cutscene and the Ending cutscene on your end (dm01to02 and dm63Bto64) that'd be neat.
If you want to, you could probably test the other SFDs I made so far both in your Dolphin end and in a Wii well, to double check.

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

Apologies for the major delay - I've been a bit distracted by the shocking revelation that aspect-preserved resolution scaling with Intel graphics on desktop / external monitors isn't really a thing on Linux and either requires (currently) imperfect 3rd party utilities or a display with its own aspect ratio control - or you could just hope that it gets fixed before Intel launches their desktop discrete GPUs in a few months (which would seem like something that would make this more of a pressing issue):

• https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=366662

Also I got a bit delayed by dealing with the numerous issues because, to put it bluntly, things didn't work.

First off, it turns out that Dolphin cannot fakesign and ISO from extracted files which means that method does not work on real hardware:

• https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thre...ng-to-iso-won-t-play-on-a-real-wii?pid=524259

Secondly, my idea of replacing unmodified video files with copies of whatever the smallest video file is in order to get ISO size under 4GB didn't really work out because the actual modified video files that you wanted me to test are... problematic on real hardware.

To be clear, this was tested with the video files uploaded since 2022-02-09 and I did not test the more recently-uploaded dm46to49.sfd file... but, needless to say, there are bigger problems on-hand.


So for proper testing I figured I'd use a publicly available completed save so that other people can re-create the exact scenario I'm testing with. Speaking of which, I'm using the 1.1 aka "Rev1" version of Other M rather than the original 1.0 aka "Rev0" version.

The save I used is the one posted by "ConsummateGamer" posted on 09/06/2010 from the following list of saves:

• https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/wii/960554-metroid-other-m/saves

#1 What I did first off is, in theater mode, play chapter 25. Unfortunately, the video freezes immediately before "stop!" would normally get yelled - basically right when dm63Bto64.sfd is supposed to play.

#2 The second thing I tested is that I deleted the existing 3rd save slot and started a new, normal difficulty game...and the console froze on a black screen.

#3 The third thing I tried was deleting the Other M save data from the Wii console system memory altogether and starting with completely new save data - sure enough, the opening cutscene actually played this time, but it had a major like 1-2 second freeze on the very first time that Samus says "the baby" along with visual glitching of some sort, and additionally there were 2 or 3 other shorter freezes (maybe half to 1 second) elsewhere in the opening video.


As a sanity check, I tried #1, #2, and #3 with a completely unmodified copy of Other M v1.1 and everything "just worked" without issue.

Also, uh, other than the second-long freezes that occurred, is there even a difference between your modified dm01to02.sfd and the original version?...and while doing a sanity check by playing the modified .sfd files in mpv, I noticed that the second-long freezes exist when playing back through mpv as well.

But at least the framerate never seemed to actually get choppy... just those hiccups, and I guess the game straight-up freezing?

EDIT: I guess I could try testing with Other M v1.0, but I figured having the infamous "red door of death" not even be present in the game would be preferable. (at least, I think v1.1 fixed the "red door of death"? There's another save listed on the link above that's stuck right at that spot, so maybe I should check for myself.)

 

[ShadowOne333]

Apologies for the major delay - I've been a bit distracted by the shocking revelation that aspect-preserved resolution scaling with Intel graphics on desktop / external monitors isn't really a thing on Linux and either requires (currently) imperfect 3rd party utilities or a display with its own aspect ratio control - or you could just hope that it gets fixed before Intel launches their desktop discrete GPUs in a few months (which would seem like something that would make this more of a pressing issue):

• https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=366662

Also I got a bit delayed by dealing with the numerous issues because, to put it bluntly, things didn't work.

First off, it turns out that Dolphin cannot fakesign and ISO from extracted files which means that method does not work on real hardware:

• https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thre...ng-to-iso-won-t-play-on-a-real-wii?pid=524259

Secondly, my idea of replacing unmodified video files with copies of whatever the smallest video file is in order to get ISO size under 4GB didn't really work out because the actual modified video files that you wanted me to test are... problematic on real hardware.

To be clear, this was tested with the video files uploaded since 2022-02-09 and I did not test the more recently-uploaded dm46to49.sfd file... but, needless to say, there are bigger problems on-hand.


So for proper testing I figured I'd use a publicly available completed save so that other people can re-create the exact scenario I'm testing with. Speaking of which, I'm using the 1.1 aka "Rev1" version of Other M rather than the original 1.0 aka "Rev0" version.

The save I used is the one posted by "ConsummateGamer" posted on 09/06/2010 from the following list of saves:

• https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/wii/960554-metroid-other-m/saves

#1 What I did first off is, in theater mode, play chapter 25. Unfortunately, the video freezes immediately before "stop!" would normally get yelled - basically right when dm63Bto64.sfd is supposed to play.

#2 The second thing I tested is that I deleted the existing 3rd save slot and started a new, normal difficulty game...and the console froze on a black screen.

#3 The third thing I tried was deleting the Other M save data from the Wii console system memory altogether and starting with completely new save data - sure enough, the opening cutscene actually played this time, but it had a major like 1-2 second freeze on the very first time that Samus says "the baby" along with visual glitching of some sort, and additionally there were 2 or 3 other shorter freezes (maybe half to 1 second) elsewhere in the opening video.


As a sanity check, I tried #1, #2, and #3 with a completely unmodified copy of Other M v1.1 and everything "just worked" without issue.

Also, uh, other than the second-long freezes that occurred, is there even a difference between your modified dm01to02.sfd and the original version?...and while doing a sanity check by playing the modified .sfd files in mpv, I noticed that the second-long freezes exist when playing back through mpv as well.

But at least the framerate never seemed to actually get choppy... just those hiccups, and I guess the game straight-up freezing?

EDIT: I guess I could try testing with Other M v1.0, but I figured having the infamous "red door of death" not even be present in the game would be preferable. (at least, I think v1.1 fixed the "red door of death"? There's another save listed on the link above that's stuck right at that spot, so maybe I should check for myself.)

Yeah those are really strange results, but I'm guessing Dolphin also gets them to an extend I guess.
All of these were done with the Riivolution patch, right?
Did you try using the original Maxximum Edition movie files that are linked in the OP instead of mine's from Dropbox?

For the dm01to02 SFD file, I don't really remember what I did to it lol
It should be a clear conversion of the original SFD into the new method I'm doing, but I haven't edited it at all, and tbh I don't even know why it is there since I still have it as PENDING in my notes until I manage to insert a custom monitor message that visually tells of the suit autorepair feature.

It's still left to be seen though if the Maxximum files cause the same kind of issues on real hardware, but from what I tested in Dolphin, I get the same results from using either Maxximum's or my SFDs. I had issues with both dm63Bto64 (with the weird long freeze on the movie before playing normally after like a minute or so) and the new one I made recently, dm46to49, which for some reason plays at like 1/2 speed in-game with Dolphin (and the same happens if I use Maxximum's file for this cutscene too).

I think trying out the original Maxximum Edition files for compatibility would be the best option here.
If they do fail in a similar manner to mine under the current method, then there's something else at play here.

Assuming the current way you're testing is through the Riivolution patch, then the only way to really make this work would be to make the hack it the same way the original Maxximum hack did, by rebuilding the ISO with the new files in place of the originals.

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

All of these were done with the Riivolution patch, right?

Actually it was through the old-fashioned Wii Backup Fusion method. The father of my practically-neighbor friend had bought the game back over a decade ago and I never cared enough about the game to purchase it myself, but now my friend can't seem to find the disc...

Did you try using the original Maxximum Edition movie files that are linked in the OP instead of mine's from Dropbox?

I just tried the original Maxximum Edition on real hardware and it turns out that it matches how original Maxximum Edition behaves in Dolphin beta 5.0-15993 from 2022-02-01, including the second-long hang when it shows the inside of Samus's arm cannon in the first CG movie cutscene as well as the weird quirk where, if you have an existing save file and you start a new game in a different slot, the first CG movie cutscene has no audio.

 

[ShadowOne333]

Actually it was through the old-fashioned Wii Backup Fusion method. The father of my practically-neighbor friend had bought the game back over a decade ago and I never cared enough about the game to purchase it myself, but now my friend can't seem to find the disc...


I just tried the original Maxximum Edition on real hardware and it turns out that it matches how original Maxximum Edition behaves in Dolphin beta 5.0-15993 from 2022-02-01, including the second-long hang when it shows the inside of Samus's arm cannon in the first CG movie cutscene as well as the weird quirk where, if you have an existing save file and you start a new game in a different slot, the first CG movie cutscene has no audio.

So the original Maxximum Edition files behave in a similar way to what we are getting with my modified fles as well?

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

So the original Maxximum Edition files behave in a similar way to what we are getting with my modified fles as well?

No.

From what I can tell, original Maxximum Edition on real hardware behaves exactly like how original Maxximum Edition behaves on Dolphin beta 5.0-15993 from 2022-02-01; that is, it generally works other than the two quirks I noted.

...and your modified Maxximum Edition certainly does not behave like that as I noted two posts ago.

 

[ShadowOne333]

Oh okay, so the issues on Dolphin can pretty much translate to real hardware.
And the modified SFD files I have done seem to have issues too then.
I guess I'll have to try to find another way to convert the files to SFD, I should probably try contacting the original author, if I can find him that is.

 

[ShadowOne333]

It's been quite a while since my last update.
Since then, I have successfully tackled almost all of the video cutscenes that I wanted to touch upon, leaving only the very first scene left to be done from the entire set.
That one being dm01to02.sfd.

I have updated the DropBox link to now have a new MPGs folder where users can watch the modified and final cutscenes, and the /movies/ folder now has all of the SFDs I have so far included for anyone that wants to test them in Dolphin or with a created ISO:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/z8bqu12b3fe0prd/AABROeNsIek28jzKkYXtQH6Pa?dl=0

For this one I want to implement a custom text prompt in a monitor that tells the player about the auto-repair feature from Samus' suit.
This is in line with how Samus recovers her suit after damage in certain portions of Other M. Two clear examples are in the Ridley cutscene and another in the Sector Zero cutscene, where in both instances Samus takes damage and loses her suit temporarily, before being able to recover it after a short period of time (this is more prominent in the Sector Zero sequence). So with this, the whole "auto repair suit" stuff isn't that out of place.

With that said, I am almost done with everything I wanted to do for the game.
The very last things I want to be able to do to wrap this up are:

1. Finish up dm01to02.sfd with the custom text prompt (being worked on).
2. Implement a custom Power Suit model based on the unused one from the Other M files, so that Samus can be played with a Power Suit model up until she gets the Varia Suit feature activated. I don't remember precisely which one it is, I think it's either model 255 or 337, one of the two, so I need someone who can model-edit the portions of the unused Power Suit into the model used in-game for it (which are models 0 for in-game and 252/337 for cutscenes).
3. Convert the 3rd Person Missiles Gecko Code into ASM code that can be injected directly into the main.dol file, so users can play without the need of having Gecko codes activated, or even bother with cheat codes of any kind.
4. Last, but not least, is the weird bugs that I get when playing cutscenes dm46to49 and dm63Bto64. dm46to49 seems to play at half the speed, and dm63Bto64 has a weird issue where freezes when it's about to start, and several seconds later it starts playing just fine. I think these issues could be related to Dolphin directly, and not the project/SFD files themselves, but this remains to be seen.

So far things are going really well, and I hope this project can be finished soon.
Another thing I found during these brief hiatus, was another method of conversion for SFD files. This one depends on a Dreamcast tool that can convert .m1v and .wav files directly into .sfd files.
For reference, I added ALL of the methods I currently know of and found so others can also convert video files into SFDs for whatever projects they desire.
It can also help if anyone wants to take a stab at editing the cutscenes of Other M as well.

I might need help with points #2 and #3 (the custom Power Suit model and injecting the Gecko code as ASM into the main.dol).
If anyone has any knowledge on how to do any of these two things, do let me know, and I'll try to help in whichever way I can!

 

[SemVision]

I was able to inject gecko code for restoring the beam charging effects of Prime 1 in Trilogy into the MP1 dol. I used a program called GeckoLoader to do it. I dont know if it would work with the missile code for Other M, but I did not have to convert to ASM to make it work for Prime Trilogy.

 

[ShadowOne333]

I was able to inject gecko code for restoring the beam charging effects of Prime 1 in Trilogy into the MP1 dol. I used a program called GeckoLoader to do it. I dont know if it would work with the missile code for Other M, but I did not have to convert to ASM to make it work for Prime Trilogy.

Oh interesting!
I kinda forgot about the charging sounds in Trilogy tbh. Glad you managed to put then back.
As for the software you mention, GeckoLoader, right?

Is it this one?
https://github.com/JoshuaMKW/GeckoLoader

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

I was able to inject gecko code for restoring the beam charging effects of Prime 1 in Trilogy into the MP1 dol.

Just to clarify, that's only practical when used with PrimeHack, right?

 

[obesebear]

Can you explain further what you need to do for #2? It sounds to me like you could simply rename model 255 to 0 and the game would use it. I would like to help if I can, and do have a small amount of experience working with models, but I would think the above solution would work just fine.

 

[SemVision]

Is it this one?
https://github.com/JoshuaMKW/GeckoLoader

Yes this is the one.

Just to clarify, that's only practical when used with PrimeHack, right?

No, it works on real hardware as well. However I only tried it as an wbfs image loaded with a USB Loader, but it worked just fine.

 

[ShadowOne333]

Can you explain further what you need to do for #2? It sounds to me like you could simply rename model 255 to 0 and the game would use it. I would like to help if I can, and do have a small amount of experience working with models, but I would think the above solution would work just fine.

I thought so as well, but unfortunately, the game crashes when trying to load model 255 as model 0.
I think the reason behind this is that the two models have quite the differences in terms of polygons, bones and other stuff.

Additionally, the culprit lies in the fact that the unused Power Suit model was, from my research and analysis with BrawlCrate (since I couldn't find much info about this model), planned to be used within cutscenes. The "rtm" suffix adds to this thought, as almost all other cutscene models have the same naming convention.

With that said, it should be fairly plausible to port over specific portions of the Power Suit model into the in-game model 0.
The specific parts from the Power Suit model that should be added into the in-game one are:
Chest and abdomen pieces (alongside the special green like light of it), shoulder pads and upper legs.
The upper legs could be omitted, as the other three pieces are the most prominent ibetween Power VS Varia suits.

Yes this is the one.


No, it works on real hardware as well. However I only tried it as an wbfs image loaded with a USB Loader, but it worked just fine.

Awesome!
I'll try fiddling with it tomorrow and see what I can do with.
I'll let you guys know how it all went down.

 

[ShadowOne333]

@SemVision I think it worked!...?
I am not 100% sure.
I did patch the main.dol using GeckoLoader with the .GCT attached in the OP in the ZIP, and it seems to have patched it just fine.

I then overwrote the main.dol I was loading with Dolphin with the newly patched one, loaded up Dolphin, opened the game's properties section to disable the Missiles on 3rd Person Gecko code, and then ran the game with the Riivolution patch (which merely serves as a way to replace the models, textures, audio and video from Maxximum).

After that, I tested it all, and it seems like the 3rd person missiles are working, alongside the Super Missile combo (full charge then B and release) and the WAY LONGER concentration time (I might try to study the code to see which portion of it modifies the timing for it).
If anyone can confirm this too, it'd be great, as this would make creating a final ISO as a standalone thing without having to worry about Gecko codes or Riivolution patches a reality now!

Please, if anyone tests this out, please let me know if it's working on your end as well with a clean run of both Dolphin and Other M!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT:
@obesebear I have uploaded all of the modified models into the DropBox link in the OP.
Model 0 is the main in-game one, which is the one that should be used as base if attempting a model edit, and Model 255 is the unused Power Suit model.
I think it's safe to assume to drop the legs, simply adding the Power Suit should pads and the chest piece of the Power Suit into the main in-game one should be good enough for our purposes.

 

[obesebear]

I don't know if this is going to work. All I did was extract the bones from 255 and import them over top of 0. My guess is the game is going to crash, but here you go. Just rename new255 to 255. download at mediafire /file/y4kuxhomm3ykhzh/new255/file

I can't directly post the link due to post requirements. Hope it works!

EDIT: It just occurred to me that the animations will also likely need to be swapped...