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

ShadowOne333

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Metroid: Other M Redux
(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.
I checked the changelog of the game, and many of the changes are great, like a properly colored Gravity Suit once activated, Missile usage while in 3rd person, new model for Samus based on Smash WiiU, properly colored enemies based on other Metroid games, etc.

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 respect 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.
For me, these two points are the only ones I have a problem with.
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


  1. COMPLETED!
    The full playlist of the final edited videos can be seen on my YouTube channel:
    Metroid: Other M Redux - Edited Videos Playlist

    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 briefing 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 (COMPLETED):
        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.


  2. 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.



  3. 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.

  4. 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?)

  5. 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 modify UI stuff, mainly the title screen:
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): FFMPEG and sfdmuxMethod #2 (Suggested by re4HD dev, Albert)Method #3 - Dreamcast Movie Creator for one audio track SFDs


  1. First, we need to get ffmpeg, be it for Windows or Linux, depending on where you're working.
    The EXE files required to convert and create SFD files can be run on Linux through Wine, even ffmpeg.
    ffmpeg link: https://ffmpeg.org/download.html
    For Linux users, you can download and install ffmpeg directly through Terminal, but first update your system's repository:
    Code:
    sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
    sudo apt install ffmpeg
    Code:
    sudo emerge --sync
    sudo emerge ffmpeg

    Next, extract the data from your Other M ISO, and then grab the SFD you want to modify.
    We need to check exactly what are the specific information of each of the SFD's tracks, which should be two audio and one for video.
    To verify the data, we need to check it with ffmpeg:
    Code:
    ffmpeg.exe -i your.sfd
    This should give you some dummy flags from ffmpeg, and at the end an output similar to this:
    Code:
    Input #0, mpeg, from 'your.sfd':
      Duration: 00:02:16.47, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 8505 kb/s
      Stream #0:0[0x1c0]: Audio: adpcm_adx, 32000 Hz, stereo, s16p, 288 kb/s
      Stream #0:1[0x1c1]: Audio: adpcm_adx, 32000 Hz, stereo, s16p, 288 kb/s
      Stream #0:2[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg1video, yuv420p(tv), 640x480 [SAR 1:1 DAR 4:3], 7822 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 90k tbn, 29.97 tbc

    Once you obtain the information regarding your specific SFD, we need to focus on these things specifically:
    • The Stream number for each specific track (two for audio tracks and one for video). In this example, my English track is Stream 0:0, while the Japanese one is Stream 0:1, the video one is Stream 0:2. This is important so we know exactly which track we are dumping (when we get to it).
    • The audio track's frequency in Hertz (Hz). In this example, both audio tracks' frequencies are 32000 Hz, or 32kHz. This is important, if you use a different frequency, the SFD will show up as sped up when played in-game.
    • Both the audio and video tracks bitrates (kb/s). In this example, the audio tracks bitrates are 288 kb/s, while the video bitrate is 7822 kb/s. This is really important! Screwing the bitrates up will cause a lot of issues if your game has other cutscenes before or after the SFD you're modifying.
    • While this one might not be important, we do have to take into consideration the resolution size for the video track. In this example, ffmpeg tells us this is a 640x480 video.
    With these data obtained, now we can start dumping both the video and audio files separately, and thankfully, ffmpeg allows for doing just that by itself.
    For Other M specifically, we can dump the files directly by using these commands:
    Code:
    ffmpeg -i your.sfd -vcodec mpeg1video -b:v 7822k -maxrate 7822k -minrate 7822k -bufsize 7822k -s 640x480 -an video.m1v
    ffmpeg -i your.sfd -map 0:0 audio-english.wav
    ffmpeg -i your.sfd -map 0:1 audio-japanese.wav

    Note that for the video track we input specifically the bitrate and resolution into ffmpeg's arguments.
    For the audio tracks, we don't need to specify the bitrate nor frequency in ffmpeg, but do take note of them, since we'll use them when we convert the WAV files back into SFA.
    Now that you have your raw M1V and WAV files, you can start making your changes at will. Use whichever video and audio editor you wish to change them, simply make sure to edit your video and export it in 640x480 so you don't have any weird stretching or narrow images.

    Once you finish editing both your audio and/or video, you're ready for muxing the files back into an SFD file.
    For this, we'll need two tools: Sega's Dreamcast Movie Creator for changing the WAV files into SFAs for muxing, and SFDMUX for creating the SFD file from the M1V and SFA files. First, let's get to the SFA Files:
    • Get Dreamcast Movie Creator from the Archive.org link and open it. In case you get an error with the message "This codec is not properly installed", download the "mcsetup.exe" file instead from the very same link and folder, and install Dreamcast Movie Creator with that setup file instead.
    • Go to "Audio" inside the "Material Files" section and browse for your modified WAV file by clickin on "Select". Doing this should grey-out all the options for video and only leave you with the Audio options.
    • Inside the "Output File" section, change the output file type to "Sofdec audio (.sfa)"
    • Inside the "Output File" section, go to "Audio" and change its frequency from whichever it has to 32000 Hz. Verify that the kbits/sec are changed to 288 automatically when you make that change too, if not, change it manually.
    • Click on "Start Encoding".
    • Wait for your file to be converted, and repeat the process of the Japanese WAV if you want it. You'll need both English and Japanese SFA files for the final SFD.
    Now, for the video, if you kept the file as mpeg1video, you should be fine, but in case you didn't and/or exporting it as anything else, like MP4, you can easily convert it back with ffmpeg by using the very same command we used to extract the M1V out of the SFD, simply change the "your.sfd" input file for whichever video format you have, like "your.mp4".

    Now that you have your M1V and both SFA files ready, we will start muxing the files into an SFD:
    • Download and open "sfdmuxg.exe" from the Archive.org link
    • Inside the "Input files" section, you have the "Video" tab, click on the folder icon and select your M1V file. If you can't see it, change the default format in the "Filesof Type" option to "MPEG-1 Video Files (*.m1v)" so the file manager can see the video file. Your video should appear on your list as Channel (Ch) 00, first on the list.
    • Switch over to the "Audio" tab, click on the folder icon and select your SFA files. Be careful, as you need to select the one for the English track first, and then the Japanese track second, otherwise you'll end with Japanese as the default audio track. Once done, both files should appear on the list.
    • Go to the "Output file (sfd)" section, and then click on its folder icon, type the name you want to give to the new SFD and save it. The file's output path should appear after the selection.
    • Click on the "Multiplex" button at the bottom, and wait for your file to be muxed. Remember which path you set the SFD to be saved to.
    That's it! You should now have created a full new SFD video for you to import into your game! I checked with Other M, and this one seems like the best option without a doubt to crete SFD files that are fully compatible with the Criware format that Other M uses.
    There's also the open source "CryTools", which right now is being developed to add support for more Criware games, but I have yet to test the new version as it's pending a new commit for SFD muxing.

  2. A conversion method suggested by the re4HD developer, Albert Marin.
    Albert suggests using ffmpeg with bitrates as high as possible, but this was done for better quality for his HD project.
    For Other M specifically, we can dump the files directly by using these commands:
    Code:
    ffmpeg -i your.sfd -vcodec mpeg1video -b:v 7822k -maxrate 7822k -minrate 7822k -bufsize 7822k -s 640x480 -an video.m1v
    ffmpeg -i your.sfd -map 0:0 english.wav
    ffmpeg -i your.sfd -map 0:1 japanese.wav

    The suggested conversion by Albert Marin is as follows:
    Albert Marin said:
    Download ffmpeg and create a .bat file using the notepad inside this bin folder.
    Write the following inside this .bat file,:

    ffmpeg -i "yourvideo.mp4" -an -c:v mpeg1video -b:v 40M -maxrate 60M "yourvideo.mpeg"
    WITH THE QUOTATION MARKS

    yourvideo.mp4 should be a previously encoded video at super high quality (in order to obtain the best results)
    40M is the average bitrate
    -maxrate 60M is the maximum bitrate. If you don't use this limitation, the encoder can create peaks of super huge bitrates and generate problems during the playback.
    yourvideo.mpeg is the resulting m1v encoded video compatible with the sfd format
    I'm using these big values (40 and 60) because my videos are HD. You can try smaller bitrates if your resolution is sub-HD

    And you also need this to mux the sfd file:
    https://gamebanana.com/tools/download/7313
    CryTools-win-x64 <--

    Again, generate a .bat file inside the bin subfolder. And inside the bat file write the following:
    sfdmux.exe youraudio.adx yourvideo.mpeg yourvideo.sfd
    NO QUOTATION MARKS

    So, you need your audio in adx format.
    You can use PES Sound File Converter ver 1.8 to convert mp3 or wav to adx
    https://www.mediafire.com/file/h8wd1ia057zg49w/PES_Sound_File_Converter_1.8.rar/file

    And you'll get your sfd file!

  3. Link to Reddit thread for the conversion (click on the spoiler tag to open it in-post):

    Direct Reddit Thread Link

    First, you need to install Wine (tested on 6.0 stable). On Fedora (33) you can use this command:
    Code:
    sudo dnf install wine

    Next, download Dreamcast Movie Creator (part of the Sega Dreamcast SDK):
    http://www.dc-swat.ru/download/pc/SFD_Tool_Pack_v1.0_by_SWAT.exe
    and SFD Player:
    http://www.dc-swat.ru/download/dc/SFD_Player.7z .

    Next set up a custom wine prefix so you can make it a win32 win95 prefix capable of running Dreamcast Media Creator using this command:
    Code:
    env WINEARCH=win32 WINEPREFIX=~/.wine-dmc winetricks win95

    Now we need to run the previously downloaded file 'SFD_Tool_Pack_v1.0_by_SWAT.exe' with wine. This file is actually a self extracting 7zip archive. It will by default extract to wherever 'SFD_Tool_Pack_v1.0_by_SWAT.exe' is. Extract the files, and close the self extracting 7zip archive window. In your Terminal cd into the directory you just extracted (named 'SFD Tool Pack v1.0 by SWAT' and located wherever 'SFD_Tool_Pack_v1.0_by_SWAT.exe' is) and execute this command:
    Code:
    env WINEARCH=win32 WINEPREFIX=~/.wine-dmc wine 'Movie Creator/Standalone/mcsetup.exe'

    This is the Dreamcast Movie Creator Installer. Click 'Next' at the 'Welcome' and 'Software License Agreement' screens. At the 'User Information' screen you are required to type in a 'Name' and 'Company' to click 'Next'. Anything 1 character or longer in the 'Name' and 'Company' text fields is valid. Click 'Next', and at the 'Choose Destination Location' and 'Select Program Folder' screens leave it at the defaults and click 'Next' once again. After clicking 'Next' at the 'Select Program Folder' screen a dialog box will appear titled 'Install DirectShow 6.0 now.', the default is 'Yes'. Click 'Yes' and then 'Finish'.

    Now that Dreamcast Movie Creator is installed, we can run it within the custom wine prefix created earlier with this command:
    Code:
    env WINEARCH=win32 WINEPREFIX=~/.wine-dmc wine ~/.wine-dmc/drive_c/Program\ Files/Dreamcast\ SDK/DCMovieCreator/dcmvcre.exe

    Now you need to convert a media file to prepare it for use in Dreamcast, so minimize the Dreamcast Movie Creator window opened by the above command for now.
    I use ffmpeg to convert media files. You can start out with any video file type ffmpeg converts, and what you want to do is convert that video file to an specified MPEG-1 video. The defaults are 3600 kbits/sec video and 396 kbits/sec audio for a total bitrate of 3996 kbits/sec. Use these commands, change 'yourfile.mp4' with whatever you want, somefile.mkv, afile.avi, whatever:
    Code:
    ffmpeg -i somefile.mp4 -vcodec mpeg1video -b:v 3600k -maxrate 3600k -minrate 3600k -bufsize 3600k -s 352x240 -an video.m1v
    ffmpeg -i somefile.mp4 audio.wav

    For Other M specifically, we can dump the files directly by using these commands:
    Code:
    ffmpeg -i your.sfd -vcodec mpeg1video -b:v 7822k -maxrate 7822k -minrate 7822k -bufsize 7822k -s 640x480 -an video.m1v
    ffmpeg -i your.sfd -map 0:0 english.wav
    ffmpeg -i your.sfd -map 0:1 japanese.wav

    Note, for longer video you may want to lower the bitrate to fit more on the disc. I don't really recommend going any lower then 900k though...
    Go back and open the Dreamcast Movie Creator Window. If you closed the entire program, you can open it at any time using the previously mentioned command:
    Code:
    env WINEARCH=win32 WINEPREFIX=~/.wine-dmc wine ~/.wine-dmc/drive_c/Program\ Files/Dreamcast\ SDK/DCMovieCreator/dcmvcre.exe

    Uncheck 'Use Identical Files' in the window, it is enabled by default. After that, click 'Select...' across from 'Video:' and pick your previously made 'video.m1v' file. Then click 'Select...' across from 'Audio:' and pick your previously made 'audio.wav' file. Change any options, if you want, including where you want your output file to be at (keep the .sfd extension!). When your ready click 'Start Encoding...'. Wait for the files to be converted, the quoted time takes a while to be acurate. When you see the 'Encoding Complete' dialog box, click 'OK'.

    You will get 2 files in your previously selected output file destination, a .sfd (your video) and a .sfa (your audio). rename the .sfd to 'BUMPER.SFD' and .sfa to 'BUMPER.SFA'.
    Now extract the 'SFD_Player.7z' file downloaded earlier. Copy both the 'BUMPER.SFD' and 'BUMPER.SFA' into 'SFD_Player/movie'. Note that this will overwrite an exisiting '/SFD_Player/movie/BUMPER.SFD' file, which is what you want to happen.

    After this, you have 2 options. You have all the files you need to burn in the 'SFD_Player' directory. You can either burn the contents of the 'SFD_Player' directory as data to a CD-R using standard software (this however will require you to first burn Utopia Boot Disc, boot it in your Dreamcast, and then swap it with your burned CD-R) or make it a self-boot CD (not yet covered in this tutorial...).

    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.



TODO & Known Issues:
  • Modify all in-game cutscenes after dm52to56 to use "rtm_samus_gravity" instead of "rtm_samus_barrier"
    While the CG cutscenes have been modified to show the Gravity Suit, the in-game cutsenes seem to still use the Barrier/Varia 3D model for them.
    A way to modify which model is loaded for those cutscenes is needed in order to properly have the right suit loaded for those cutscenes.
    Some files seem to have cutscene data (and movement data) in them, particularly those around model files 380 (405 I believe it to be dm57, right after the Sector Zero cutscene). Possibly here lies the key to modify which model in particular gets loaded for certain cutscenes. I still haven't verified if these files indeed modify the in-game cutscene assets and movements.

  • Subtitles dm36to43 (Ridley) and dm52to56 (Sector Zero) appear out of sync
    These two cutscenes were re-cut and re-edited to have better and more logical pacing and remove out-of-character moments. However, due to this change, the subtitles are now desynced with the video. The subtitles themselves are inside the "message_all.dat" file, and can be edited through a Hex editor, but I haven't found out yet where the timings for each subtitle frames are located within that file (or if they are in another file altogether). The best I could do was re-order the subtitles to make them appear as close to the audio as possible, but until a method to edit the subtitles frames is found, this will remain like that.


Credits & Tools:
  • All the people involved in the creation of Other M: Maxximum Edition, whose work was taken as the base for this project.
  • Windhunter for his great work on the commission to port over the assets for the legs, shoulder pads and chest pieces of the unused cutscene Power Suit model (255) into both models 0 (in-game model) and 252 (cutscene model).
  • CryTools by ThisKwasior to create the SFD files for the modified cutscenes and audio.
  • ffmpeg to rip the videos and audio tracks from the SFD files
  • Dreamcast Movie Creator to create the AIX files for certain audios
Archive with all the Metroid: Other M Gecko Codes:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190930233029/https://geckocodes.org/index.php?c=R3OE01
 

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Maeson

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Dumb question, but wouldn't the audio thing be easy to fix? Just keep all the original files.

Having a less flawed version of the game seems quite interesting, I never hears of this hack...
 
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Dumb question, but wouldn't the audio thing be easy to fix? Just keep all the original files.

Having a less flawed version of the game seems quite interesting, I never hears of this hack...

I assume so, but I am not 100% sure.
Some disk-based games tend to have a table of starting and ending offsets for files, like some PS1 games.
I am not sure if this is the case for Wii games as well, or specifically for Other M.

I'd be nice to restore the audio to what it was originally, once that is figured out, the videos/movies could be an easy thing to address for sure.
I am making a list of what cutscenes in particular might need a re-edit, so far it's just a handful atm, and I'm about 3/4 into the game.
 

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@Brand Newman Has done several translation hacks, he might be able to point you to resources for modifying Wii games.

It sounds like you want to undo, or do cleaner audio edits, which shouldn't require technical expertise beyond dumping the resources for modification, assuming someone else is willing to incorporate them into a compiled mod.

Are you in touch with the original mod creators, are they open to your input? Maybe they could get you the pre-packed files and you could then implement your changes for a parallel mod release.
 

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@Brand Newman Has done several translation hacks, he might be able to point you to resources for modifying Wii games.

It sounds like you want to undo, or do cleaner audio edits, which shouldn't require technical expertise beyond dumping the resources for modification, assuming someone else is willing to incorporate them into a compiled mod.

Are you in touch with the original mod creators, are they open to your input? Maybe they could get you the pre-packed files and you could then implement your changes for a parallel mod release.

Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated.
Right now, it seems like all the issues are focused on the video/cutscene files.
For the music tracks, from what I've read and seen, it seems like it's just a matter of not copying the newer tracks into the Other M ISO, and that should keep the original OST.

For the video files, I made some advancement into discovering how to do it, while still not fully there yet.
Here's what I found (copy-pasting it from RH.net since I also opened a discussion there for it):
https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=33713.msg421228#msg421228

ShadowOne333 said:
Indeed, it seems like the music change might be as easy as simply NOT copying the audio/music files from Maxximum into the Other M ISO.

From what I could gather, it seems like the audio tracks are in AIX format.
For the video files, they all seem to be in SFD format.

I gave a quick test to one AIX and one SFD file, and it seems like VLC can play both of those with little to no issues.
The only one with problems is the SFD file, which seems to not play the audio for it, but the video does play in VLC.

Another way to do this would be to rely on SFD2MPG for converting the SFD files into MPG:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l48j03r70en9nfd/SFD2MPG.zip?dl=0

Instructions for the command prompt and terminal are in the ReadMe.
I have yet to know how to convert back the MPG files into SFD, but at least this is progress to start working on the editing of the audio and video files from Maxximum Edition.

Some additional sites that might help towards all of this:
https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=153482
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=42486

To be honest, all that's needed is just a way to be able to edit the SFD files (or convert them back and forth) with as little-to-no quality loss.
After that, once the files have been edited or converted properly from whatever format is decided back into SFD files, it should be a matter of just replacing them and rebuild the ISO from there.

At least, that's what I gathered so far and what I think might be the end proceedure, but I am still not 100% sure if this is how it'll go.
I still have yet to find a proper way to open/play, edit and convert SFD files to avoid quality loss.
 

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@Exidous , you "summoned" me! ;)

So, @ShadowOne333 , I have a confession to make : while I own a retail disc of Metroid Other M, I never took the time to play the game, nor do I have a lot of experience in the Metroid saga (tried the first one of the trilogy on Wii, but I'm not really into the FPS view in general, so...)

Now that we all agree on what a micreant I am, I tried to open the files with Shotcut, and it appears the software can read them, and they even have sound (at least the big files do, but I am under the impression the small ones don't have any soundtrack to begin with, maybe there's a dialog from another file? I don't know, since I haven't played the game yet)!

So I guess you could at least modify the vids with minimal quality loss.

Now, about converting them back to sofdec, some people on this thread talk about a software called "SFD TOOL PACK", but I'm not sure the link they provide is trustworthy or compatible, be careful (or find the software somewhere else?):

https://dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12627

But I agree with @Exidous on this one : maybe contacting the team is the best and fastest way to achieve your goal.

Please let us know about your researchs, I know codecs can be quite annoying (never could mod the Dragon's Lair Trilogy because of that), so the solution would be worth sharing.

Yours truly.
 

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@Exidous , you "summoned" me! ;)

So, @ShadowOne333 , I have a confession to make : while I own a retail disc of Metroid Other M, I never took the time to play the game, nor do I have a lot of experience in the Metroid saga (tried the first one of the trilogy on Wii, but I'm not really into the FPS view in general, so...)

Now that we all agree on what a micreant I am, I tried to open the files with Shotcut, and it appears the software can read them, and they even have sound (at least the big files do, but I am under the impression the small ones don't have any soundtrack to begin with, maybe there's a dialog from another file? I don't know, since I haven't played the game yet)!

So I guess you could at least modify the vids with minimal quality loss.

Now, about converting them back to sofdec, some people on this thread talk about a software called "SFD TOOL PACK", but I'm not sure the link they provide is trustworthy or compatible, be careful (or find the software somewhere else?):

https://dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12627

But I agree with @Exidous on this one : maybe contacting the team is the best and fastest way to achieve your goal.

Please let us know about your researchs, I know codecs can be quite annoying (never could mod the Dragon's Lair Trilogy because of that), so the solution would be worth sharing.

Yours truly.

Thank you for the reply!
I forgot to mention certain things about the game and the hack itself:
  1. About the suggestion of Shotcut and the files, does Shotcut allow for editing the files directly as an SFD with sound and all (for those that have it)? Or do I need to do a specific kind of conversion to achieve this with minimal loss?
    You seem to be correct about the second assessment too, it like some of the videos do have audio and dialogue as a separate file(s) (from what little I have delved into the game files). I am not 100% sure, but I am certain this is the case for some instances. I know the audio tracks for music are stored as AIX files.
    Here's a video of the start of the game with Maxximum Edition, some of the dialogue files seem to be pulled from elsewhere (or maybe they didn't edit those subtitles?):
  2. About contacting the team...
    I tried doing that, but it seems like the original thread from Reddit is now archived and no longer opened for further posts or comments, and worse yet, the original OP of the thread deleted the account it seems. So I have no way of contacting the original creator of the hack. I will see if I can track someone else from the project.

Thank you so much for your input, and I'll make sure to update this thread with whatever other stuff I find throughout the way :)
 

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does Shotcut allow for editing the files directly as an SFD with sound and all (for those that have it)? Or do I need to do a specific kind of conversion to achieve this with minimal loss?
Shotcut opens the files (and seems to have no trouble with the soundtrack) because it relies on FFMPEG, but it doesn't have a SFD codec to encode them.

My suggestion was to modify the vids with shotcut, save them with minimal loss in a format a SFD converter would "understand", then convert them into SFD.

But apparently the software I was refering to earlier is from the Dreamcast SDK... You'll have to find an alternative to that, maybe someone developed a free codec on github?

EDIT:
You can try this software by Jenkey1002 :

https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1461/

Be aware I had to run Windows on Safe Mode otherwise the software would crash, and then I got a "buffer overload" message, but maybe you'll get luckier than me, since the thing seems to match your needs perfectly.
 
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Shotcut opens the files (and seems to have no trouble with the soundtrack) because it relies on FFMPEG, but it doesn't have a SFD codec to encode them.

My suggestion was to modify the vids with shotcut, save them with minimal loss in a format a SFD converter would "understand", then convert them into SFD.

But apparently the software I was refering to earlier is from the Dreamcast SDK... You'll have to find an alternative to that, maybe someone developed a free codec on github?

EDIT:
You can try this software by Jenkey1002 :

https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1461/

Be aware I had to run Windows on Safe Mode otherwise the software would crash, and then I got a "buffer overload" message, but maybe you'll get luckier than me, since the thing seems to match your needs perfectly.

That tool is awesome!
I managed to convert the SFD from one of the fixed files to MPG without much trouble!
The only thing which I cannot seem to do is to export the audio out of it.
The exported MPG doesn't seem to play audio neither, only the video.

PS: I did get some crashes, but seem random at best.
It usually runs okay when converting files.
 
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Not to splinter too far off of this conversation, because I think this hack can use som improvements. But I have gotten this game working on Wii U threw Wiiflow Lite. But I have never gotten the missle by pressing B. It's supposed to work threw a cheat, but I have never gotten it to work. Anyone have any tips?
 
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I finally managed to get everything setup properly.
I now have the Other M files and all of Maxximum's files too.

It seems like most of the work comes down to the video editing after all.
I managed to dump all of the game files using a tool called Nkit, and I've been comparing video quality alongside each of the modified video files. They seem to be quite a small amount, 11 to be exact, and I decided to drop one of them because they are almost 1:1 with the original (dm06_01.sfd).

It's the Power Suit cutscene of Samus with Adam almost at the start of the game, after meeting them and knowing Adam is with the crew, the later half of the video in Maxximum has AWFUL contrast settings, and the original will be kept as it's exactly the same except for that change for some reason.
Here's the specific cutscene in Maxximum (11:01):


Also, the latter section of that video, where Samus walks past Adam, is extremely overused in Maxximum Edition, that one alongside the Samus giving a thumbs down directly facing Adam on a black background.
Seems like the Maxximum guys decided to drop any and all story beats regarding Samus' backstory with those specific scenes. I checked, and the Ivan Malkovich cutscene alongside some of the other Galactic Federation scenes of Samus were completely dropped.

That said, I did a quick rundown of what could possibly be needed for this project, and here's what I came up with:

Shadow's Notes on Maxximum's possible changes:
Overall editing:
We need to find a way to properly output both video and audio from the SFD files.
SFD2MPG could help to extract the WAV, and then we use SFD Media Converter for the video.
Shotcut can be used for editing, but once converted, any video editor that can retain the original's quality should do.

Text:
All of the movie subtitles seem to be inside the message/message_all.dat file.

Sound:
All of the battle, jingle, results, silence, navigation room, stages sounds BGMs will be removed from Maxximum edition.
The "adam_voice" souds will be Maxximum's, as these are the audio tracks that tell Samus to authorize certain abilities.
The rest of the dmXX tracks seem to be related to the cutscenes which are handled in-game rather than video files. A good comparison will be required to know which ones from these will be used or kept from the original game.

Cutscenes:
-Movie 01to02:
Intro movie. Possible could be left as is, as having the whole intro just be silent up until Samus starts training.
-Movie 03to04:
Training sequence movies. Left to be decided if they will be edited or not, possibly the only change needed would be to add the voice-over telling Samus that the suit was damaged due to Hyper Beam, but with a much better voice and audio than the original. A slight re-edit could also help here as it all seems really choppy with the trimming at certain places.
-Movie 06_01:
Will be removed, exact same movie except with lower quality (Adam encounter and Power Suit cutscene), except with Samus' quick explanation on who Adam is (which seems quite important to me to be dropped).
-Movie 08_01:
Encounter with first boss (Brug Mass, Purple bug). Could possibly leave this one with better quality, as it shortens a rather long and drown out scene.
-Movie 09_01:
Scene of young Samus in an Adam briefing, shows the thumbs down as disagreement to Adam. Could be left as in the original since it shows the disparity in relationship between her and Adam.
-Movie 33to34:
Important story detail about Ivan Malkovich and why Samus left the Galactic Federation. Will be left as the original.
-Movie 36to43:
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.
-Movie 46to49:
Samus encounter with MB and discovery of the Metroid clones. Still left to be decided what will be changed from this one or not.
-Movie 52to56:
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 since Samus getting shot from the back adds some tension as to who it was, and once revealed, it makes sense since Adam would want that to avoid Samus being on all five senses to stop his sacrifice. Then, cutoff the part where Samus immaturely starts saying the same thing from the Ivan Malkovich cutscene, as this only takes away from her character's growth.
-Movie 61to63A:
Samus and the true Madeline encounter. Still left to be decided what will be changed from this one or not.
-Movie 63Bto64:
Ending cutscene with Madeline, MB and the Galactic Federation. Maxximum did a good job here, possibly will keep the Maxximum editing with better quality, but really nothing changes here other than Madeline shooting MB in the original, and Samus being the one who shoots MB in Maxximum.

Those are the details and points I found so far.
Also, I wanted to ask, where is exactly the line that contradicts Other M with the Prime series?
The one about Samus not working with the Federation before. That and the Ridley cutscenes are the top priority to fix imo (Adam giving permission for weapon usage too, but Maxximum did a good job there).
I completely forget where that line that contradicts the Prime series is located at, and it could help to polish some of the details in my list.
 

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I did not remember Other M cutscenes were all videos, no wonder they could be edited.

One point where it tries to brush aside the Prime games is when Samus says that "it's the first time she works with the federation" for example, which she does in Prime 3, which is pretty daft because after the way the federation is shown in Other M, she wouldn't want to work with them again.

Other M not only contradicts the Prime games, it also does screw up things from other games too, like Fusion with something related to bio weapons. And also how Adam behaves and the way that Samus sees him in Fusion...

That's a few things from a large list of issues Other M introduces, but I am only speaking from memory.

...You have close to a decade of discussions to check on finer details. Outside the story (it's biggest problem) i will never not be shocked at the awful forced choice to not let design the game with the nunchuk.

Why oh why take it away when it adds more possibilities for control...
 

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I found the line.
It's actually at the beginning of the game as well, during Adam's first briefing with the whole squad and their introductions.
https://metroid.retropixel.net/games/metroidom/transcript.php

"It was the first joint mission I'd been a part of since becoming a freelance bounty hunter. And, of course, it was the first time since my Federation days that I was following the orders of a commanding officer."

The next lines after that also clash with Prime 3, but those seem to be all right next to each other and in the same cutscene.
That part is effectively kept quiet during the Maxximum Edition cutscene, which is actually an in-game cutscene, with just the audio being played in the background (sound/se_rtm_dm10_se.aix). However, that part still shows text during the Maxximum Edition cutscene. That could probably be fixed by editing the message_all.dat file and replacing those lines with spaces (maybe?).

I did not remember Other M cutscenes were all videos, no wonder they could be edited.

One point where it tries to brush aside the Prime games is when Samus says that "it's the first time she works with the federation" for example, which she does in Prime 3, which is pretty daft because after the way the federation is shown in Other M, she wouldn't want to work with them again.

Other M not only contradicts the Prime games, it also does screw up things from other games too, like Fusion with something related to bio weapons. And also how Adam behaves and the way that Samus sees him in Fusion...

That's a few things from a large list of issues Other M introduces, but I am only speaking from memory.

...You have close to a decade of discussions to check on finer details. Outside the story (it's biggest problem) i will never not be shocked at the awful forced choice to not let design the game with the nunchuk.

Why oh why take it away when it adds more possibilities for control...

What other story parts collide with other games?
I don't recall anything specific about Fusion being retconned in Other M at any point, unless I'm missing something.
Only thing I can think of is that they used the research from Bottle Ship for the experiments on BSL for Fusion, hence the appearance of several monsters from Other M in Fusion as well, but that kinda makes sense.

What other story beats are worth taking a shot at that collide with other Metroid games?

EDIT:
Also, all of the models in the game have no extension.
I wanted to take a peek and see what each new model was compared to the original, but couldn't find much info on what format the Other M 3D models use.
I wanted to peek at those to see if one of them had the "Maxximum Edition" subtitle in them to remove them, as I don't like intrusive subtitles or data in the title screen. I added one of the hack's models, hopefully someone knows how to edit them or view them properly.
 

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I did not see myself spending my Sunday morning on this, but I took some time looking around for Other M plot points that people found problematic over time. As I said, there's years worth of discussions... And wikis, I also looked through those.

Here's what I got as far as Other M messing continuity with other games, probably there's more though:

Other M states that the Space Pirates are not sapient creatures. This is stated directly by Samus, which makes things worse. It implies that only with Mother Brain they could act organized, which besides the obvious problems (the Space Pirates have been shown several times to act *a bit* above mere hostile beasts, specially the Prime trilogy with all the logs, but you also have Zero Mission late part of the game, when the Pirates still function and steal when Ridley and Mother Brain are out) it also leaves the question of who rebuilt Mother Brain (between the original/Zero Mission and Super) if, when she's taken down, the pirates become "stupid" for example, and again, Other M (and Samus) states that Ridley is not capable of leading them, or at least imply it. And the Pirates also revive Ridley several times, which they couldn't do if we take Other M's words seriously.

Also, going back to the "First jig with the Federation" it goes beyond the Prime series. It's a pretty big f#%! up apparently, because it also contradicts both the original/Metroid Zero Mission AND Metroid 2. In the original game (Zero Mission too), it's the Federation the one that sends Samus to Zebes (after failing themselves). On Metroid 2, which happens BEFORE Super Metroid so it counts before Other M, the same happens. The Federation fails to do it and sends Samus to deal with the mutating Metroids.

On Super she goes on her own accord.

Other M also states that Ridley "Never died before" (meaning, defeating him in Super Metroid was the first time he died) which is... well, not true.

He dies both on the NES version and in Zero Mission, and if we take the Prime games, which I would do, the first Prime shows that the Pirates basically revived Ridley by taking whatever was left and combining them with machine parts to make Mecha Ridley (which was foreshadowed in Zero Mission now that I think about it, as Ridley was making a Machine version of himself and it's the last boss of Zero Mission).

Granted, when you defeat him in Super he falls apart and then you explode the planet where its remains are (in typical Samus fashion, btw) so whatever form Ridley comes after that has to be a clone or something like that, which Other M says it is.

For Fusion things get rather messy, because info for Ridley on that game was left vague and the got changed to whatever the writer wanted by the existence of Other M, altering whatever details originally they planned. The old Fusion official website implied that the Pirates and Ridley you see in the game were in fact invading the BSL station and were not specimens stored in it, but again there's always been a lot of questions about that.

I will leave it at that though.

On Metroid II GB he doesn't appear, he appears in the remake though, and it's based on the Prime series' mechanically revived form. But I don't think this holds weight in this situation as this was released long after Other M, which at that point was being pushed aside hardly to try and "resurrect" the franchise.

There are other things, like Adam/Samus relation in Fusion but that's one of the most well known points, other smaller points exist but I think we'd be going too far.

Lastly, while I have my issues with Other M, I'm not doing this in bad blood or anything like that, you asked for help and I wanted to do so, you will be the one to decide what to do with this information.

Fiction, even in the best cases, will always have holes or small inconsistencies, it's a given, and I can enjoy stuff for what it is, warts and all... At least up to a point of course, which to me this game crossed and kept running.

Oh, and by the way, after looking at this I also found that "infamous" interview were Sakamoto said that the Primes were not canon... It seems like the problem was a badly done translation, and the intent of the real words were along the lines of "the Prime games' story is not connected to Other M but not outside of the series" which it would imply that they ARE canon... But then all the contradictions and such become harder to deal I guess.
 
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Maeson said:
  • Other M states that the Space Pirates are not sapient creatures. This is stated directly by Samus, which makes things worse. It implies that only with Mother Brain they could act organized, which besides the obvious problems (the Space Pirates have been shown several times to act *a bit* above mere hostile beasts, specially the Prime trilogy with all the logs, but you also have Zero Mission late part of the game, when the Pirates still function and steal when Ridley and Mother Brain are out) it also leaves the question of who rebuilt Mother Brain (between the original/Zero Mission and Super) if, when she's taken down, the pirates become "stupid" for example, and again, Other M (and Samus) states that Ridley is not capable of leading them, or at least imply it. And the Pirates also revive Ridley several times, which they couldn't do if we take Other M's words seriously.

The Space Pirates are well known for being organized, the Prime series is a *prime* example of this, as they were mostly working during all that time-frame without Mother Brain. There's Ridley present here and there, but I think it's safe to assume they are quite an organized group. One thing I seem to notice on Other M is that they tend to interchange Zebesians with Space Pirates, or maybe even referring to one as both (implicitly) in some instances (I think).
However, from what I could gather from the game's script, they seem to refer that the requirement of having MB recreated is to control the Space Pirates, not really that they acted as beasts. Probably some sort of power hierarchy, but it never came across to me as if they were referring to the Pirates as beasts, simply that they needed a way to control them once cloned, as MB fit that bill.

  • Also, going back to the "First jig with the Federation" it goes beyond the Prime series. It's a pretty big f#%! up apparently, because it also contradicts both the original/Metroid Zero Mission AND Metroid 2. In the original game (Zero Mission too), it's the Federation the one that sends Samus to Zebes (after failing themselves). On Metroid 2, which happens BEFORE Super Metroid so it counts before Other M, the same happens. The Federation fails to do it and sends Samus to deal with the mutating Metroids. On Super she goes on her own accord.

Completely agree with this point, and it's one that need to be addresses. So far I could only find that one instance or reference to Samus and her "1st time working with the Federation since her departure" in that one specific cutscene in Adam's first briefing at the start of the game, I couldn't find other instances, but I'll keep a close watch to see if I find others.

  • Other M also states that Ridley "Never died before" (meaning, defeating him in Super Metroid was the first time he died) which is... well, not true.
    He dies both on the NES version and in Zero Mission, and if we take the Prime games, which I would do, the first Prime shows that the Pirates basically revived Ridley by taking whatever was left and combining them with machine parts to make Mecha Ridley (which was foreshadowed in Zero Mission now that I think about it, as Ridley was making a Machine version of himself and it's the last boss of Zero Mission).
    Granted, when you defeat him in Super he falls apart and then you explode the planet where its remains are (in typical Samus fashion, btw) so whatever form Ridley comes after that has to be a clone or something like that, which Other M says it is.

I couldn't find anything regarding this point in the script of Other M.
They do reference Ridley, after Samus' idiotic PTSD event, but after that, I couldn't find anything regarding a mention of Ridley's death or he never dying before.
If I do find a reference to that, I'll be sure to address it if possible.

  • For Fusion things get rather messy, because info for Ridley on that game was left vague and the got changed to whatever the writer wanted by the existence of Other M, altering whatever details originally they planned. The old Fusion official website implied that the Pirates and Ridley you see in the game were in fact invading the BSL station and were not specimens stored in it, but again there's always been a lot of questions about that.
    On Metroid II GB he doesn't appear, he appears in the remake though, and it's based on the Prime series' mechanically revived form. But I don't think this holds weight in this situation as this was released long after Other M, which at that point was being pushed aside hardly to try and "resurrect" the franchise.

From my understanding, the way they addressed this (and ditching the Fusion website information) was that the bodies of Ridley and some of the Pirates and bioweapons (Nightmare included) were translated from the Bottle Ship to the BSL for research. Once you beat the game in Other M, and return to the Bottle Ship for "cleanup", if you go to the Killing Grounds were Ridley's carcass was found by Samus (before the Queen Metroid fight), Ridley is no longer there. This implies that Ridley (and other bodies) were moved by the Galactic Federation to the BLS for further research. Imo this is a good enough reasoning behind Ridley's appearance in Fusion, and to me this is a nice subtle detail, in a game that's known for not being subtle at all, so it's a nice change for the best and it's good to have it be that way, at least to me.

  • There are other things, like Adam/Samus relation in Fusion but that's one of the most well known points, other smaller points exist but I think we'd be going too far.

This is one that'd probably be the most problematic. If we remove the whole "authorizing" weaponry that Adam does in Other M (as Maxximum did already), would that help to better exemplify and relate Samus' relationship with Adam in a similar way to what they do in Fusion?
I think that should be the main focus, and removing the authorization crap is already a very good way to handle it and to carry that relationship across.

  • Lastly, while I have my issues with Other M, I'm not doing this in bad blood or anything like that, you asked for help and I wanted to do so, you will be the one to decide what to do with this information.

    Fiction, even in the best cases, will always have holes or small inconsistencies, it's a given, and I can enjoy stuff for what it is, warts and all... At least up to a point of course, which to me this game crossed and kept running.

    Oh, and by the way, after looking at this I also found that "infamous" interview were Sakamoto said that the Primes were not canon... It seems like the problem was a badly done translation, and the intent of the real words were along the lines of "the Prime games' story is not connected to Other M but not outside of the series" which it would imply that they ARE canon... But then all the contradictions and such become harder to deal I guess.

I appreciate you took the time to write this!
It certainly helped me refresh some of the memories about the game and its plot points, and will surely help to address things once they start being set into motion later on.

Thanks again for your input!
If you, or anyone else, has a point that they'd feel should be address in an audio/video editing for this project, I'm more than happy to take it into consideration.
 
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Fair points.

It's true Other M tends to confuse Zebesians with Space Pirates (even if there's some overlap at least), but even ignoring what the Prime games did, we still got Zero Mission showing Zebesians doing normal operations after you take down their "bosses".

About the Ridley death thing, I'm SURE there's something out there that pointed to it. Not only I remembered it, but looking around (specifically, searching stuff from when the game was recent) there's a number of mentions about it too, which I never saw before but I can't nail where exactly it has been said.

Examples are here (Post 5) on the Wiki talk part (" Finally, Ridley's death: Other M is the game that confirms he had never been cloned (a.k.a he never died) before Super Metroid's events") even if they also bring the Manga up which I think it's completely separate canon-wise, and on the page about Ridley's life or even discussions on The Legends of Localization (Someone named Johnny) among other places.

I really don't know what else to say about it. I wish I could find the exact place where we got that detail but it's something talked about through the years. It's not too important, but seeing how Ridley did die in previous games only to be brought back in dubious ways (like cybernetics on Prime 1) it was something I always remembered.

I 'd need to check if there's some pre-release sort of trailer or information out there implying that. Whatever...

About the Fusion part, yes, that's why I said it was messy. Stuff was intentionally left out vague in that game, and Other M has to work around the fact it's set before it.

Of course we have to see all this from the point of view of actually trying to change a game and what can be realistically be done, instead of just merely rewriting how one could want the story to have been and leave it at that. Things like Adam/Samus relation is probably something that would benefit from being redone entirely (like Adam's actions through the story) which is just totally outside the realm of possibility lol.

In any case, just trying to help.

PS: It's fun to see the opinion of Japanese audiences in the LoL link, specially surprising to see that they liked the Prime games quite a bit. I always heard some people talking about how they didn't... It's also interesting that what they think is what makes Other M stumble is basically what we think in other places too.
 
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Fair points.

It's true Other M tends to confuse Zebesians with Space Pirates (even if there's some overlap at least), but even ignoring what the Prime games did, we still got Zero Mission showing Zebesians doing normal operations after you take down their "bosses".

Yeah they tend to refer to one as the other and viceversa implicitly, not sure if that was intended, but I'll leave it at that as it's pretty un-intrusive.

I do understand than even in Zero Mission, the Pirates are shown working just fine after Mother Brain, Ridley and Kraid's defeats, but Other M specifically mentions that they want to "control" are the Metroids first and foremost, and the Space Pirates second. They do mention that the only creatures that REQUIRE Mother Brain's telepathy in order to be controlled are the Metroids, and that's fair. The AI was also developed to keep control of the Space Pirates forces that the Federation was basing the whole structure on.

The keyword here is "control", they wanted to use the MB AI to keep control of the organisms (Metroids, Zebesians and Space Pirates) so they follow the exclusively command of the Galactic Federation, and no one else's, it's not that the Pirates couldn't work on they own, as that's already known, but they wanted to keep it all under their radar and orders, or at least that's what I understand of the whole ordeal.

The fact that Ridley was cloned unknowingly might have been what screwed up those plans (along with MB's instability when in Android form), as Other M does also mention in one of Samus' monologues that Ridley's presence might have been the one that caused the creatures to become ferocious.
That's where I can see most people misunderstanding the point the game is trying to tell, and I can't blame them, as the game does a pretty bad job at being concise with what it tries to convey.

About the Ridley death thing, I'm SURE there's something out there that pointed to it. Not only I remembered it, but looking around (specifically, searching stuff from when the game was recent) there's a number of mentions about it too, which I never saw before but I can't nail where exactly it has been said.

Examples are here (Post 5) on the Wiki talk part (" Finally, Ridley's death: Other M is the game that confirms he had never been cloned (a.k.a he never died) before Super Metroid's events") even if they also bring the Manga up which I think it's completely separate canon-wise, and on the page about Ridley's life or even discussions on The Legends of Localization (Someone named Johnny) among other places.

I really don't know what else to say about it. I wish I could find the exact place where we got that detail but it's something talked about through the years. It's not too important, but seeing how Ridley did die in previous games only to be brought back in dubious ways (like cybernetics on Prime 1) it was something I always remembered.

I 'd need to check if there's some pre-release sort of trailer or information out there implying that. Whatever...

I think I understand what those users are referring to when it comes to Ridley's death.
They are going based on the idea that the Ridley in Other M is confirmed to be a clone from DNA found on Samus' suit (same as with the Metroid baby), while never before has it been confirmed or denied than any of the reappearing Ridleys were either clones or resurrected forms of the original, and the fact that the DNA of Ridley is in the suit must mean that he should have died on Samus' last encounter with him.
Sure, that's a plausible and most likely case. Last time before that was Super Metroid's encounter with Ridley and it surely must have been the last time the "true" Ridley was alive, as both Other M's and Fusion's aren't the original Ridley anymore, but rather a clone (Other M) and an X-Parasite (Neo Ridley).

Still though, I fail to see how Other M confirming Ridley's death makes any change on the other games, if at al.
All of Ridley's appearances in the Prime games were a cyberneticaly enhanced version of Ridley from Zero Mission, and by the time Samus Returns happened, Omega Ridley from Prime 3 had almost recovered all of his organic body parts to be ready for Super Metroid's appearance (and even drops the last mechanical parts on him at the end of Samus Returns post-credits scene), possibly due to the Phazon Ridley absorbed during Prime 3's Leviathan seed, in which; during the fight, Omega Ridley does heal his wounds using Phazon.
Super Metroid would be the last time we would see the original Ridley at all, but I think it's clear to assume that all the other Ridley encounters are still the same one.

About the Fusion part, yes, that's why I said it was messy. Stuff was intentionally left out vague in that game, and Other M has to work around the fact it's set before it.

Of course we have to see all this from the point of view of actually trying to change a game and what can be realistically be done, instead of just merely rewriting how one could want the story to have been and leave it at that. Things like Adam/Samus relation is probably something that would benefit from being redone entirely (like Adam's actions through the story) which is just totally outside the realm of possibility lol.

For sure, the Adam/Samus relationship will be a though one to crack, or at least to make a decent relation out of what we got in Other M.
With the few cutscenes there are, and how Maxximum edited some of those, I think the story gets carried across a bit better and in a less annoying way, although I do feel like certain story elements of Samus' past with the Galactic Federation should have been kept in Maxximum (Samus' disagreements with Adam and the Ivan Malkovich cutscene were completely removed in Maxximum).

In any case, just trying to help.

PS: It's fun to see the opinion of Japanese audiences in the LoL link, specially surprising to see that they liked the Prime games quite a bit. I always heard some people talking about how they didn't... It's also interesting that what they think is what makes Other M stumble is basically what we think in other places too.

I appreciate all the feedback you're giving in terms of inconsistencies, it sure put my brain and memory to work and helped me understand Other M's plot points way better and through a new lens that I didn't have way when I first played it.
 
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Again, fair points. If this conversation helps you some way that's all it counts! It's true that each one of us tend to see things with different perspectives and by talking we can see things in a different light. When it's done one a respectful level it's truly useful and enjoyable.

I've always had a lot of respect for people trying to improve or change games for the better, it requires a lot of time, thought and work, so if I can I like to try and help.

Which reminds me, I will take the opportunity thank you for your Redux and other hacks, they're great stuff for sure! I kinda lost all will to use the RHDN forums, so I'll say it here.
 
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Again, fair points. If this conversation helps you some way that's all it counts! It's true that each one of us tend to see things with different perspectives and by talking we can see things in a different light. When it's done one a respectful level it's truly useful and enjoyable.

I've always had a lot of respect for people trying to improve or change games for the better, it requires a lot of time, thought and work, so if I can I like to try and help.

Which reminds me, I will take the opportunity thank you for your Redux and other hacks, they're great stuff for sure! I kinda lost all will to use the RHDN forums, so I'll say it here.

Indeed, it's really nice and quite a refreshing experience to analyze things from different points of view and perspectives.
It opens up a whole new way of understanding and details that might have gone by if one were to do so alone and with our own impressions.

I didn't know you followed my Redux projects too! Glad you've been enjoying them!
And hopefully with this project I can at least do a decent job as time goes by to bring Other M to a more decent state :P
 
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This is a very rough 1st draft of an attempt I made for the Ridley cutscene,



Obviously, the audio hasn't been reworked.
I tried to make a coherent progression of the cutscene without over-emphasizing the PTSD crap, and only make it seem like Samus is waiting for Ridley to make a move when she gets surprised. I could also move the Adam cutscenes in that one to some other place, but I feel like those were okay in the meantime.

I'm all open for suggestions, of course.
One thing I'd like help with, is the output of the video, for some reason, Shotcut isn't exporting the video properly.
It's supposed to be filling the entire screen, but I get some weird black spaces around the image.

Shotcut opens the files (and seems to have no trouble with the soundtrack) because it relies on FFMPEG, but it doesn't have a SFD codec to encode them.

My suggestion was to modify the vids with shotcut, save them with minimal loss in a format a SFD converter would "understand", then convert them into SFD.

But apparently the software I was refering to earlier is from the Dreamcast SDK... You'll have to find an alternative to that, maybe someone developed a free codec on github?

EDIT:
You can try this software by Jenkey1002 :

https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1461/

Be aware I had to run Windows on Safe Mode otherwise the software would crash, and then I got a "buffer overload" message, but maybe you'll get luckier than me, since the thing seems to match your needs perfectly.

Sorry to bother you again, but would you happen to know why that might be happening with Shotcut?
Or what kind of export settings would you recommend so this doesn't happen?
 
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