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

[Maeson]

sorry, I would have answered sooner but yesterday was a bit rough. Seeing again that cutscene really brought some memories...

I don't know what it is exactly your goal or how much you want to remove. I probably would try to cut entirely the "kid Samus" moment going through 0:38 to the monitor shot and I think that would be all for the most part. The biggest complication will be the sound no doubt.

 

[ShadowOne333]

sorry, I would have answered sooner but yesterday was a bit rough. Seeing again that cutscene really brought some memories...

I don't know what it is exactly your goal or how much you want to remove. I probably would try to cut entirely the "kid Samus" moment going through 0:38 to the monitor shot and I think that would be all for the most part. The biggest complication will be the sound no doubt.

Gotta say, I like Child Samus' CGI render, which is why I included it
Although, I do have to agree that such scene does feel off.
I might replace the whole zoom into Samus' face saying "R-Ridley!", cutting the entire subsequent Kid Samus stuff and going straight into Adam's point of view there.
I will also move the gasp shot of Samus' face to the original place it was (right after Ridley shows himself from the lava), and keep the rest.

I am also thinking about moving the monitor scenes of Adam shouting to Samus' if she can hear him to a point where Ridley already pinned Samus down and her Power Suit starts to disappear. It would feel much better tonally and in context.

Let me know what do you think, I'll probably get another WIP video up tomorrow.
As for the audio, most of the cutscenes have just one track synced in with the image, but perhaps trying to find the cutscene's track through other means might help for editing.
This site has that particular cutscene without the voices of Samus and Adam under the name "Cutscene Ridley Arranged". I can't recall if Ridley's screeches are there or not, so this would be a good source for audio editing for other cutscenes as well.
https://www.metroid-database.com/music-all-games/

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Well turns out I had some spare time, so I reworked the editing a little bit, and this is what I have now:


I'm open to any kind of suggestions, as always
PS: I had to make the video 700x480 so it matches the EXACT size I am getting the original SFD opened in VLC (even thought the codec info for the SFD says it's 640x480)

 

[Maeson]

Yeah, all the changes felt for the better! I don't have much more to add, really, it is basically how I would have tried to cut it. The young Samus render is nice, true, but the way they decided to implement it on the cutscene (not to mention it happening on this point on a chronological sense too) felt out of place.

If it was indeed the first time she saw Ridley since he attacked her, there would be no need to cut it but... Sigh.

It's good to know that there's a video without voices, too!

 

[ShadowOne333]

Yeah, all the changes felt for the better! I don't have much more to add, really, it is basically how I would have tried to cut it. The young Samus render is nice, true, but the way they decided to implement it on the cutscene (not to mention it happening on this point on a chronological sense too) felt out of place.

If it was indeed the first time she saw Ridley since he attacked her, there would be no need to cut it but... Sigh.

It's good to know that there's a video without voices, too!

Awesome!
Thanks for the insight, glad other people do feel that this improves over the original cutscene.
What I meant for the link I provided, is that the OST of that specific website has the bare audio/music of the cutscene, without the voices intruding in it.
It's not the video, just the audio (OST). So that will help a lot for editing out the audio of the original video, while keeping the voices intact (I hope), same for the other cutscenes which have voices and music in the same audio track.

 

[ShadowOne333]

I have done some further editing on the Ridley cutscene, and I think I'm at a point where I am really happy with the result!
Here's the latest version of it:



If others are happy with that video, that's the one I'll be using for my custom fork of Maxximum Edition.
That's the one cutscene that I really wanted to touch upon the most.

There are still some other files I want to rework, like the one in Sector Zero with Adam, and also some of the introduction scenes, mainly to remove the whole Galactic Federation stuff that collides with Prime. After that, the rest are pretty minor things to touch.

Also, I am still undecided on whether or not I should restore some of Samus' original monologues.
Some are obnoxious for sure, but some of them do add up to the story of the game, and having them all removed just feels like an easy way out of making Samus not as annoying.

 

[peter8]

@ ShadowOne333 : Impressive work. But I will stay with the original version.

Come on the original version was not so bad. The story was not so idiotic at all, its combined the story from fusion GBA. The best Metroid games are the old classic jump and run adventures. The remake from the 3DS version samus returns was maybe the latest good one. I would love to play Metroid Prime Hunters NDS on my Wii, but its to slow.

Big question ->
Can you hack Metroid Prime 3, use the game cube controller instead of the original controller settings ? This is the only game I had not play from the Metroid series, because I hate the sensor controllers. I need cable. No changes on the game, just hack implented game cube controller, or classic controller. You have the knowledge, me not.

 

[Exidous]

Some are obnoxious for sure, but some of them do add up to the story of the game, and having them all removed just feels like an easy way out of making Samus not as annoying.

Some problems are simple, and the solutions accordingly elegant.

From what you've said in this thread, your goal is to substantially change the story of the game.

 

[ShadowOne333]

@ ShadowOne333 : Impressive work. But I will stay with the original version.

Come on the original version was not so bad. The story was not so idiotic at all, its combined the story from fusion GBA. The best Metroid games are the old classic jump and run adventures. The remake from the 3DS version samus returns was maybe the latest good one. I would love to play Metroid Prime Hunters NDS on my Wii, but its to slow.

Big question ->
Can you hack Metroid Prime 3, use the game cube controller instead of the original controller settings ? This is the only game I had not play from the Metroid series, because I hate the sensor controllers. I need cable. No changes on the game, just hack implented game cube controller, or classic controller. You have the knowledge, me not.

I do agree the story is not as bad as some people say it is, I just mainly had the two issues of the Ridley cutscene and the one where she mentions the Galactic Federation stuff, other than that, it's serviceable.
As for Prime 3, I don't intend on touching that game, I don't have any knowledge on hacking Wii games at all, what I'm doing here is mainly just re-editing the cutscenes extracted from the ISO, and then reinserting them into the ISO itself, I am not hacking the DOL file at all.

Some problems are simple, and the solutions accordingly elegant.

From what you've said in this thread, your goal is to substantially change the story of the game.

Not quite, mainly story beats that don't make sense in the overall structure of the series (aka Ridley/GF stuff).
The rest is quite okay to me.

 

[Deleted member 574434]

Hi!

I learned about this hack sometime ago, and seeing that you or other people are willing to mod this hack, can I make suggestion?
If not, or if it was already discussed, ignore what I'm saying.

Anyway, I also didn't liked that they altered the cutscenes so much. Yes, they aren't perfect but they are necessary to understand the context of the game.

However, something worth noticing is that some of context of the game was lost in the localization in the original.
You see, while the all cutscenes were present in all versions, they altered many dialogues when they published it in the West, which also altered the meaning of Samus characterization.
She didn't seem that annoying and Adam respected more her decisions in the JP version.

Since I'm new here I think I can't provide the link, but there's a video talking about it called "The Other M that never was" which talks about all these alterations and how they alter the meaning of the game, you guys might like to check it out.

So, my suggestion is, is it possible to translate the JP version to English while also including it into this hack?

Thanks in advance and again my apologies if this was already discussed or if it's hard to include in the hack.

 

[ShadowOne333]

Hi!

I learned about this hack sometime ago, and seeing that you or other people are willing to mod this hack, can I make suggestion?
If not, or if it was already discussed, ignore what I'm saying.

Anyway, I also didn't liked that they altered the cutscenes so much. Yes, they aren't perfect but they are necessary to understand the context of the game.

However, something worth noticing is that some of context of the game was lost in the localization in the original.
You see, while the all cutscenes were present in all versions, they altered many dialogues when they published it in the West, which also altered the meaning of Samus characterization.
She didn't seem that annoying and Adam respected more her decisions in the JP version.

Since I'm new here I think I can't provide the link, but there's a video talking about it called "The Other M that never was" which talks about all these alterations and how they alter the meaning of the game, you guys might like to check it out.

So, my suggestion is, is it possible to translate the JP version to English while also including it into this hack?

Thanks in advance and again my apologies if this was already discussed or if it's hard to include in the hack.

I did see that video popping up in my feed a couple of times, but I never got around to actually finishing it since it's quite a long video (almost 50 mins).
I'll make the time one evening to watch it thoroughly and make any thoughts on it once I'm done.

The hard thing here would be, in the case of major localization changes, the voice acting and/or actual voice recordings.
But it remains to be seen, depending on what I make out of that video.

EDIT:
Okay I finished watching it, and it makes some pretty interesting points.
This strengthens my idea of keeping some (or most) of Samus' inner monologues, as they do add a lot to the story.
Possibly only the annoying parts or repeating beats might be removed, but other important story beats and monologues with importance will be kept.

As for the localization changes, as I feared, they'd be too hard to work into the cutscenes.
We would need to find a way to make the voices match up to the works being written in the subtitles, and I want to avoid voice acting as much as possible (just watch the training cutscene from Maxximum Edition, that's why).

So yeah, this helped further cement the idea of keeping some monologues in, as they are pivotal to plot and story points.
With the Ridley scene mostly done, I'll see what other cutscene could be possibly reworked from Maxximum's to make a better presentation.
The introduction scenes all the way up to the Briefing with Adam are heavy workers, for sure, but I might tackle a slight cutscene next to see how it plays out, and then I'll attempt one of the introduction scenes.

 

[Deleted member 574434]

I did see that video popping up in my feed a couple of times, but I never got around to actually finishing it since it's quite a long video (almost 50 mins).
I'll make the time one evening to watch it thoroughly and make any thoughts on it once I'm done.

The hard thing here would be, in the case of major localization changes, the voice acting and/or actual voice recordings.
But it remains to be seen, depending on what I make out of that video.

EDIT:
Okay I finished watching it, and it makes some pretty interesting points.
This strengthens my idea of keeping some (or most) of Samus' inner monologues, as they do add a lot to the story.
Possibly only the annoying parts or repeating beats might be removed, but other important story beats and monologues with importance will be kept.

As for the localization changes, as I feared, they'd be too hard to work into the cutscenes.
We would need to find a way to make the voices match up to the works being written in the subtitles, and I want to avoid voice acting as much as possible (just watch the training cutscene from Maxximum Edition, that's why).

So yeah, this helped further cement the idea of keeping some monologues in, as they are pivotal to plot and story points.
With the Ridley scene mostly done, I'll see what other cutscene could be possibly reworked from Maxximum's to make a better presentation.
The introduction scenes all the way up to the Briefing with Adam are heavy workers, for sure, but I might tackle a slight cutscene next to see how it plays out, and then I'll attempt one of the introduction scenes.

I understand your point and thank you for looking into the video.

Anyway, if you make some changes according to the JP version or not, I'm looking forward to this project since it changes only the really annoying bits of Other M.

 

[ShadowOne333]

I have rewritten the OP to have all my points and notes of the changes from Maxximum edition, and which things I will be changing or not depending on my notes.
They are separated in tabs, from Video, Audio, Text and Models.
I think I am done with the Ridley cutscene, next I will do the one about the Ian Malkovich stuff, this one only needs to have the last seconds of it removed (Samus' monologue about redemption which serves nothing to the story). This one is both audio and video changes in two files, so it should be quite easy to do.
After that, I'll see what other video I'll edit.

Text and models might most likely not be touched, or just slightly.
The only model change I want to achieve is giving Samus her Power Suit during the beginning of the game, until she enables the Varia Suit.
The models are all in BRES format, any BRRES editor or viewer can modify those, so if anyone finds a way to import a Power Suit Samus model, let me know!
If this is changed, then possibly editing some cutscenes to fit the Power Suit might be required too, but only if a way to change the model to it is found.

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

Just a question about actually distributing this modification when you get to that point.

As you may know, most game mods from N64 and older simply use patch files (IPS, BPS, xDelta, etc) which are not only quite simple to use in a cross-platform manner (there's even a browser-based patcher) but, in the case of Maxximum Edition, it requires a process that is a bit more lengthy, complicated, and much less cross-platform compatible (something I've been more focused on in recent months with the looming launch of the Steam Deck).

So I'm wondering if, unlike the original Maxximum Edition, you are able to distribute your version in a format that is a bit less involved to get up-and-running? I don't know if an xDelta patch file applied directly to a clean unscrubbed ISO would work, but what about Dolphin's new ability to load Riivolution patches? It's my understanding that Riivolution is commonly used as a means to load external files which is basically all that is being done here (outside of the gecko code of course).

Now I wouldn't suggest making it ONLY available as a Riivolution patch as that rules out USB Loaders, though it's additionally my impression that Riivolution patches don't have to be "obfuscated" and it can be set up that the according replaced files can be left out in the open in plain sight with a folder-tree arrangement that similarly matches the actual disc, allowing for people to optionally replace the files on the ISO directly if they choose to run it on real console hardware.

Heck, since this uses a gecko code anyway, there's even the Brawl-mod method of using a gecko code to load external files from an SD card (though it sounds like that sort of thing is outside of your expertise). In such a case that'd really only help with playing on real hardware since, currently, creating an emulated SD card for use in Dolphin is arguably just as involved as the current process required to get Maxximum Edition running and, as time goes on, there will be less and less interest in playing on real hardware anyway vs playing through Dolphin (but even then, it'd probably be best to at least not make it straight-up impossible to play on real hardware like was the case with some older SNES and N64 rom hacks)

Can you hack Metroid Prime 3, use the game cube controller instead of the original controller settings ?

If you're willing to use the Dolphin emulator rather than real console hardware, then PrimeHack may be an option.

 

[peter8]

Nintendo Maniac :

I want it on real console. Of course with a emulated PC system is it easy to use. I was come up with the idea to try the Metroid Prime 3 E3 BETA copy on the Wii system. Do you know this copy ? Its unfinished, but it was first coded for the Game Cube system, in this fact it has game cube controller. Unfortunately the BETA copy was ''developed to run on Gamecube hardware (GDEV?) with 128MB RAM. It was found on an NPDP Cart and dumped via usual methods'' and it need a special Dolphin emulator. I was try to start this copy on my Wii but its not working. On my PC its working. It would be great to play this copy on my Wii. Is it possible to run the E3 copy on a real Wii console ?

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

Is it possible to run the E3 copy on a real Wii console ?

If it doesn't work with existing versions of Nintendont then I don't think there's anything I can say to help other than maybe try asking in the Nintendont thread about whether it'd even be hypothetically possible to get it running in some future version and/or forked version of Nintendont? (I mean, Nintendont can run Triforce arcade games, so it doesn't seem too far-fetched assuming that it doesn't flat-out require 128MB of RAM which is something the Wii obviously does not have).

BTW out of curiosity, I'm guessing that setting the in-game sensitivity in Metroid Prime 3 to "Advanced" did not make things better for you? I only mention this because I basically find anything other than the "Advanced" setting to be unplayable, yet I find the "Advanced" setting to be REALLY good despite it not being the default setting.

 

[ShadowOne333]

I have re-edited the Ridley cutscene a bit more to a point where I feel really happy with the result.
I have also finished the Ian Malkovich cutscene that will be implemented into the reworked hack for Other M based on Maxximum Edition.

You can see both cutscenes re-edited here:



For the Ridley one, the changes are quite substantial. It's worth a full watch.
For the Ian Malkovich scene, only the final Samus monologue from the cutscene was removed, as it didn't add anything of value to the story, although the conversation with Anthony about what transpired is kept, since it's an actual dialogue between the two characters, and not a monologue per-se.

 

[Maeson]

I found both cutscenes to be great, the Ridley one is really well edited!

 

[ShadowOne333]

I found both cutscenes to be great, the Ridley one is really well edited!

Thanks!
I have edited the OP heavily with detailed notes on almost every cutscene and audio.
The rest aren't as heavy editing-wise as the Ridley one, except the Intro.

For the intro movie, during Samus' flashbacks of getting back from Zebes with the scientists having her in full Varia Suit laid down, I want to add a closing shot of a monitor screen saying something like "Hyper Beam damage to suit systems, entering auto-repair mode... Systems will be operational as required" or something of the likes.
Specifically there's a shot of a monitor close-up that only serves to show a Samus hologram in a medical bench, replacing that one with a particular visual shot could add a lot to the story, as the "Adam authorizing weaponry" will still be removed from this version. I want to avoid using voices or anything else that specifically says the suit has been damaged, Samus (and the player) should already know this if they simply watch that shot.

The audio files (.aix) are easy enough to edit, as I do have a little bit more experience on audio editing that video.

Hopefully the rest of the cutscenes end up as well as these ones

 

[Nintendo Maniac]

I just wanted to mention that, in my process of trying out Dolphin's new Riivolution functionality, I created a Riivolution XML script that works with Other M and seemingly with the Maxximum Edition mod which may make things easier to quickly test stuff.

This is just a basic file-replacement script whereby everything located in Dolphin's "Dolphin\User\Load\maxximum_edition" folder (create that folder if it doesn't exist) will be loaded in-place of the files on the ISO (so to replace the file "\movie\dm01to02.sfd" on the ISO, you would place the new version in "Dolphin\User\Load\maxximum_edition\movie\dm01to02.sfd" in order to load it)

<wiidisc version="1">
	<id game="R3O"/>
	<options>
		<section name="Stuff">
			<option name="/Maxximum Edition">
				<choice name="Enabled">
					<patch id="maxximum_edition"/>
				</choice>
			</option>
		</section>
	</options>
	<patch id="maxximum_edition">
		<folder external="/maxximum_edition" disc="/"/>
	</patch>
</wiidisc>

To use this in Dolphin, copy and paste that code into a blank .txt file and save it in "Dolphin\User\Load\Riivolution" (create the folder if it doesn't exist), then rename its file extension from .txt to .xml. Then to load it in Dolphin, right-click on Other M in Dolphin's game list (if it's not there, then make sure to add the folder containing the game ISO by clicking the "Config" button and then the "Paths" tab) and select "Start with Riivolution patches" and then click "Open Riivolution XML" and it should automatically default to the folder where you saved the newly-created .xml file, in which case select it. After that, change the newly-appeared drop-down that says "Disabled" to say "Enabled" and then click "Start"

Annoyingly, you have to do this process every. single. time. as Dolphin does not remember Riivolution patches in the way that it remembers gecko codes.

And before you get any ideas, note that I cannot code anything worth a darn (and I'm not just being humble either).

On that subject, apparently it's actually possible to integrate gecko codes directly into Riivolution patches, but the explanation is all greek to me - perhaps someone more knowledgeable in coding matters can better understand how to perhaps integrate the necessary gecko code for Maxximum Edition into my Riivolution XML so that it can even work with a physical disc on real console hardware.

Also theoretically it might actually be possible to make individual enable/disable switches for various aspects within a single Riivolution XML, like being able to separately toggle on and off the character models, CG movies, music, etc.


EDIT: Oh uh, turns out Dolphin can read and launch games that have been completely extracted into files and folders which kind of makes this script a bit pointless for Dolphin... well maybe this Riivolution script can still be useful for testing stuff with a clean rip of the game rather than a scrubbed one (which an ISO extracted to files & folders would technically qualify as), and maybe it could also be useful for keeping the modified files separate from the stock files?...or maybe I'm just grasping at anything that doesn't make my effort seem pointless.

 

[ShadowOne333]

Another update on the project.
I took a break from the video editing for a while, and instead focused on the audio tracks of the game.
I have finished editing almost all of the audio tracks that were modified for Maxximum's.
I have uploaded the ones I could in the OP, so you can listen to them (I uploaded some in MP3 format due to size limitations in GBATemp, can't upload files of more than 10MB).

The ones that haven't been uploaded it's because the original tracks will be used.
The only exception is the Adam tracks authorizing weapon usage, which are all silenced in Maxximum, so no need to upload them (unless you want to hear 1 sec silence lol).

As for the video editing, I attempting editing the first boss scene, modifying the researcher's corpse from green to red to uncensor the cutscene, but my video editing skills are really lacking here. I cannot find a proper way to change the green for the researcher only to red in a good way that won't require inserting frame by frame with modified images. The red can be easily done by changing the hue for the researcher's body from green to red (72 in hue iirc), but it'd be better if I can find a way to make the video editor track the researcher's body and only modify his section of the video in hue.

Another thing I need to do is modify a slight section of the introduction scene to include an image that tells the player visually that the "Hyper beam damage critical, suit auto-repair system activated. Upgrades will become available as required". I'm thinking of replacing the sequence of a monitor with Samus's image in 3D to that message, the one from 3:31-3:33 in this video:


That said, I'll continue with the video editing during the holidays, the most I can with my limited video editing skills, but I'll try to make the best possible result I can.