Sega Supporting ROM Hacks Via Steam

[Benjamin]

Also I noticed somebody making "chill" hacks of some games - basically removing game over in some form (like giving infinite lives) or stuff like that (making the game easier) so you can just play without worrying about doing well (i.e. pretty much casual playing). Does anybody have anything to say about those?

I guess Sega couldn't include Game Genie support without Galoob's permission? Seems like an OK alternative.

[Sik]

You don't need the Game Genie firmware for that...

And anyway, those chill mods are made taking into account how the game works, you'd usually need tons of Game Genie codes to achieve the same. And like really the whole point of them is to not have to worry about stuff like that in the first place (although I guess there will be people who will see them as an easier difficulty alternative).

[Allard]

Can't wait for Pyron and LinkueiBR to upload their color hacks.

[cabear]

I love the idea of chill hacks. There are plenty of games i would love to experience but the difficulty and my limited time makes it hard to enjoy them. I find nowadays I'll cheat in a game so I can see the entire thing.

[Assman]

Apparently they have Ecco Revision 01 (the Japanese version with extra stages, fixes and checkpoints, but in English), and yet I can't find this thing anywhere else on the internet.

What kind of crap is that? I don't use Steam; I just want to play this on my frickin' Genesis.

[Barone]

If you have Ecco on steam and update it with that patch you're talking about, you'll have the patched rom inside the Steam directory AFAIK.

[Barone]

OK, Sega, you got me this time. Buying your damn ROMs just to have the Ecco patch.

[Barone]

Damn, the local ROM is the unmodified one. But there has to be a way to extract it from somewhere.

[NeoVamp]

Maybe there are extra files, one of those could be a renamed ips patch. (wouldn't be the first time they hid something in plain sight)

[r9delta]

Damn, the local ROM is the unmodified one. But there has to be a way to extract it from somewhere.

\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\34270

There's be several folders under that depending on how many "mods" you've downloaded but what you're looking for will be in one of them. Also the romhacks won't be ips patches, just straight roms (if you're submitting a romhack to Steam Workshop they have to be as a full rom as well).

[Barone]

Awesome, thanks for Steam comment follow up!

Also, I've found the source of all these Ecco hacks/protos:
http://web8.orcaserver.de/ecco/downl...on/genesis.php

Ecco 1 Rev. 01 is the one you guys are looking for.

[Sik]

OK, Sega, you got me this time. Buying your damn ROMs just to have the Ecco patch.

You gotta give it to them, that was probably their whole plan. I bet nobody was buying the ROMs (asides probably from the Sonic ones) so they looked for an excuse to convince people to do it - and bundling in all the ROMs together in a pack to give an incentive to buy all of them together. So far, it seems to have been working. I honestly didn't think they'd go ahead and literally allow full-blown ROM hacks though (and not even patches, but outright the full ROMs - that's like a first for anybody).

By the way: rev01 of Ecco doesn't send you back to Welcome to the Machine if you lose at the final boss, but sends you to an easier level made just for this purpose.

[Barone]

I honestly didn't think they'd go ahead and literally allow full-blown ROM hacks though (and not even patches, but outright the full ROMs - that's like a first for anybody).

Same here.
I wonder if later on they'll regret that move and apply stricter rules. As it is now, it has been pretty cool and very positive for the hacking scene IMO. A lot of people came out of the woodwork and are both sharing and commenting stuff.

[Baloo]

One day they will understand that people don't like these rejected 3D interfaces for windows 95. Not sure exactly when or if any time soon.

They actually put some effort into this. That means they assume someone, somewhere, actually wants it. How odd.

Am I the only one who likes this new 3D interface? It reminds me a lot of my childhood, playing Sega Genesis on a CRT in my bedroom. Fun times. I already liked using the simple Sega Mega Drive Classics on Steam interface, even if it was basically ROMs with a scanlines filter. But even now it's cooler with that neat "CRT curve" feature, even when the game is in "fullscreen mode." I really like the way the game looks with the HQ2X filter OFF and the Scanlines On.

I like it overall. Some cool nostalgia points. Now maybe they'll start getting around to adding more of the great games to Steam, particularly some of the best Sega CD and 32x ones. If all of the current games and Sonic CD can be on there, than so can some classics that they're leaving out. There's more room on that shelf!!

The ROM hacks being added as part of the Steam workshop is especially cool though. I want a ROM hack that replaces the annoying-ass soundtrack of Streets of Rage 3 now.

[Barone]

Am I the only one who likes this new 3D interface?

No, I like it too.
My complaint is that its performance is awful and the emulator options reminded me of the KGen98/Genecyst/Megasis era. That HQ2X filter is super duper old...
But they have acknowledged several issues in their recent post in the Mega Drive Hub, so maybe they'll work on improve things now that they might have cashed a bit on this whole thing.