Author Topic: Equinox SNES maps  (Read 54924 times)

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Offline Cleeem

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Equinox SNES maps
« on: June 26, 2020, 11:40:24 am »
Hello there! French user and first message on the forum for me ! ^^
I was planning to give all the maps of Equinox here at vgmaps.

What has been done yet (EDIT: now finished):
  • worlds 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8
  • general world map art

You can find all of the maps here:
https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/SuperNES/index.htm#Equinox


1. Galadonia (butterfly > Pieces from Crusader of Centy on Sega Genesis)  8)



2. Tori (hat > life from Solstice on NES)  :P



3. Deeso (dog > antique dog from Secret of Evermore on Snes)  ;D



4. Atlena (spiral > teleporter from Chrono Trigger on Snes)  :o



5. Quagmire (tadpole/frog > Winkly from Donkey Kong Country on Super Nes)  ::)



6. Afralona (Jumpman > Mario from Super Mario Bros. on NES)  :-*



7. Ghost Ship (ship > Ghost ship from Equinox on Snes)  ???



8. Ice Palace (cross > stone cross from Equinox Snes)  :)





Equinox has fascinated me [...]
eventually, someone else will end up mapping it instead.

Yes!  ;)
So, dear TerraEsperZ,

If you would like to work on the project and have a limited time, maybe you would be happy to do the general world map and put ... the items on the maps (it you like to do it one day!).  ;)
Whatever, you will be free to use my work ! ^^
« Last Edit: January 17, 2021, 02:34:09 am by Cleeem »

Offline TerraEsperZ

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Re: Equinox SNES maps
« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2020, 05:27:58 pm »
Hi Cleeem and welcome to the forum! As a fellow French speaker (from Quebec), it's nice to see new faces around here as the forum is really a lot less active than it used to be!

Thank you for the offer but I'm *way* too finicky about details (like spacing and exact color values) to ever use someone else's maps as a base. It's why it typically takes me years and several restarts to finish mapping any one game!

I only really need to submit the overworld map at the moment which is practically finished and with your set, the whole game will be on the site. My dream version of the dungeon maps, if I ever finish them, will no doubt take me *years* because I'm hoping to do kind of the same thing that Guillaume Saint-Amant did with his Solstice map, namely to make them easier to read by adding proper shadows under every floating object. I did a few rooms as a test and it looks neat but I'm not sure how feasible it will be to do the whole game like this.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing your maps (I've only done the basic capture of the first three dungeons myself) and I hope you stick around!
Current project:
Mega Man: Powered Up (PSP)

Offline Cleeem

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Re: Equinox SNES maps
« Reply #2 on: June 26, 2020, 06:11:59 pm »
Cher TerraEsperZ, c'est un plaisir de te lire!  :)
I will continue in english so it will be easier here for most of the readers ! ^^

You can count on me to finish the maps, yes!
Before assembling anything, I make a picture for each room, so maybe it could save you some time for your dream project! ^^

But it may not be pixel perfect so you may not be able to use them. I have read you are using BizHawk. And I am using Snes9x !  :P
Anyway, I am very curious to see the difference between BizHawk and Snes9x captures.
Could you post a capture of the first room of the first dungeon, so I can discover the differences between the 2 emulators (because I am really curious, you know!).

Here it is with my capture for the first screen of the fisrt dungeon by starting a new game (room 1-0E) :


I played Equinox a long time ago in 1995 (25 years ago, yyyeeesss!!! Can you believe it ? ^^)
I am happy to make maps about the game today !  :)
« Last Edit: June 26, 2020, 06:12:35 pm by Cleeem »

Offline TerraEsperZ

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Re: Equinox SNES maps
« Reply #3 on: June 26, 2020, 07:22:30 pm »
From what little I've seen, it seems to be pixel accurate but the colour values are slightly different because older emulators like Snes9x don't convert the SNES's 15-bit BGR colour values to 24-bit RGB the same way more recent emulators like BizHawk do.

Basically, the 0-31 colour range is converted either to 0-248 (Snes9x) or 0-255 (BizHawk). With the newer method, pure white has a value of 255,255,255 instead of 248,248,248, which is close but not quite enough.

You can see for yourself if you check the individual pixel colours. Lower values are identical but start being off by a few point the higher they are:



I myself had to do some work because the Mode-7 overworld map graphics couldn't be captured by BizHawk because of some programming quirk in the way Equinox displays the map. I had to use a ZSnes savestate with a utility called vSnes to capture the graphic from it, then a custom, GUI-less, barely functional QB64 program to convert the colours to the right format.

See what I mean when I say I'm obsessed with details :P ?
« Last Edit: June 26, 2020, 08:02:12 pm by TerraEsperZ »
Current project:
Mega Man: Powered Up (PSP)

Offline Cleeem

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Re: Equinox SNES maps
« Reply #4 on: June 27, 2020, 02:25:41 am »
Oh well, yes! It is very impressive ! ^^
So I am on my way to continue the last 4 levels by now ! ^^
« Last Edit: June 27, 2020, 03:59:41 am by Cleeem »

Offline TerraEsperZ

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Re: Equinox SNES maps
« Reply #5 on: June 29, 2020, 10:35:49 pm »
Here are the custom shadows tests I've done so far :



I'm hoping to do the whole game like this but I fear that some dungeons like Quagmire might be almost impossible to depict this way because of all the vegetations...
« Last Edit: June 29, 2020, 10:36:57 pm by TerraEsperZ »
Current project:
Mega Man: Powered Up (PSP)

Offline JonLeung

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Re: Equinox SNES maps
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2020, 08:13:41 am »
That's impressive.   :o  How do you make the custom shadows?  I mean, in general.  I imagine that takes a lot of work, even before trying to line them up in isometric space...

Offline TerraEsperZ

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Re: Equinox SNES maps
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2020, 10:42:19 am »
*A lot of work* is the right answer!

So far, I've had to use a few different techniques to create the shape of the shadows.

Those spikes from Dungeon 3 are identical to those found in another one (can't remember off-hand which) except these have no shadows because in this dungeon, spikes can hang in the air instead of always being on the ground. So I just took the shape of the shadow from the identical spikes that do have one.

For round pillars and square blocks, I'm basically using the upper "north" and lower "south" edges for the exact shape, and use the surface to determine the exact placement for that block in relation to the tile grid. It's hard to explain but I've made a few templates for grid alignment for every type of blocks I've used so far. Some things are highly simplified such as the caged skeletons in Dungeon 1 having a full, round shadows.

After that, I basically have to rebuild the room in as many horizontal layers as required for the shadows to make sense. The game itself builds a room from 3 or 4 basic blocks (cage, pillar, block, spike, etc) then builds a single composite layer that is displayed over the empty floor/wall layer. If there are multiple elements in a given room that would project shadows over one another, I have to determine which elements are located at which position and height, then replicate each horizontal layer separately and add in additional layers in-between for the shadows with simple homemade masks. It's long and complicated but strangely exciting to do!

The shadows done this way are far from perfect, but they give a better understanding for the layout at a first glance. I still need to determine a good way to represent blocks that can be moved, blocks there are invisible, blocks with a conveyor effect, blocks that fall as soon as you enter the room, etc.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2020, 10:43:31 am by TerraEsperZ »
Current project:
Mega Man: Powered Up (PSP)

Offline Cleeem

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Re: Equinox SNES maps
« Reply #8 on: July 02, 2020, 10:29:34 am »
*A lot of work*
... and skills !  ;) It is magnificient!

The simple mapping will continue with world 5, 6 and 8 ... and 7 is now completed (I have updated the first post with a small picture for it!).  :)
To be continued ...  :D

Offline JonLeung

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Re: Equinox SNES maps
« Reply #9 on: July 02, 2020, 12:03:37 pm »
SQUEEE!  I don't get too excited by much as often as I'd like, but I am looking forward to seeing complete maps of these.  To be honest, I haven't made a serious attempt at playing this game, but I love how it looks.  Who knows?  I might try again when some maps are ready.  :P

Guillaume Saint-Amant's map of Kâstleröck in Solstice is incredible.  TerraEsperZ, I wish you the best of luck in achieving your goal of coming up with Equinox maps to match.  It seems like something already well within your skills and it sounds like you desire to do it.  Probably only a matter of time, rather than of ability or motivation.

Offline Cleeem

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Re: Equinox SNES maps
« Reply #10 on: July 04, 2020, 03:43:57 am »
Dear JonLeung, thank you for your interest! ^^

Every map will have the secrets passages in yellow.
Here is an example with Atlena  ;)


I think I will continue with world 8, then world 5 and finally the 6th to finish ! ^^
« Last Edit: July 04, 2020, 03:45:20 am by Cleeem »

Offline TerraEsperZ

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Re: Equinox SNES maps
« Reply #11 on: July 04, 2020, 10:13:29 am »
Afralona (Dungeon 6) is really, **really* big and long, isn't it?
Current project:
Mega Man: Powered Up (PSP)

Offline Cleeem

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Re: Equinox SNES maps
« Reply #12 on: July 04, 2020, 05:31:07 pm »
Ha ! Here is the number of rooms for each world. ^^
1>16 2>34 3>45 4>47 5>63 6>75 7>70 8>107

So the last level is the one with the top number of rooms in the game.
Level 6 win the second place. It is very long to progress as a gamer for sure, but it shoud be OK to make the map for it!  :)


« Last Edit: July 09, 2020, 09:15:30 am by Cleeem »

Offline Cleeem

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Re: Equinox SNES maps
« Reply #13 on: July 09, 2020, 09:10:18 am »
Ice Palace is now finished !
The biggest map ^^: 11 224 x 6 328 pixels
.bmp = 203 Mo  :D
.png = 7 Mo  8)

I have updated the first post with a thumbnail of it!  :)
« Last Edit: July 09, 2020, 09:15:43 am by Cleeem »

Offline Cleeem

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Re: Equinox SNES maps
« Reply #14 on: July 09, 2020, 05:40:34 pm »
Another thing is that I have changed my mind about this:  8)
What I *will not* do:
  • put all the weapons, magics, tokens, keys, potions and apples on maps
  • put all the enemies and boss
  • give a general world map (overworld)



As you can see in the picture just above, I will mark the maps with:
  • the number of each rom
  • weapons
  • magics
  • boss
  • tokens
  • keys

That is all for now ! ;)
« Last Edit: July 09, 2020, 05:41:42 pm by Cleeem »