sonic – Clownacy's Corner

Building an Open-Source ‘Emulator Box’ from Old Spare Parts

Being the nerd that I am, I have various old PC parts lying around and collecting dust. So many, in fact, that I could build an entire PC out of them! That had me wondering: how far could I push assembling a novelty emulation machine, powered entirely by modern open-source software? In a sense, thisContinueContinue reading “Building an Open-Source ‘Emulator Box’ from Old Spare Parts”

My ROM-Hacks Can Now Be Played Directly in a Web Browser

My Mega Drive emulator – ClownMDEmu – can be ran in a web browser; however, the user would have to load games manually. That has now changed, as recent improvements to the emulator allow it to load games automatically, based on the contents of the URL! What this means is that you can click onContinueContinue reading “My ROM-Hacks Can Now Be Played Directly in a Web Browser”

Convert Sonic 2 to Widescreen in 3 Easy* Steps (ʸᵒᵘʳ ʳᵉˢᵘˡᵗˢ ᵐᵃʸ ᵛᵃʳʸ)

Hi, Clownacy here with the guide to end all guides! Do you like that newfangled widescreen emulator hack and wish that Sonic games worked with it? Do you wish you could make your hacks widescreen without Heyjoeway’s hit-or-miss automated patcher? Well worry no more, as today I show you how to make YOUR hack* (yes,ContinueContinue reading “Convert Sonic 2 to Widescreen in 3 Easy* Steps (ʸᵒᵘʳ ʳᵉˢᵘˡᵗˢ ᵐᵃʸ ᵛᵃʳʸ)”

ClownMapEd v1.3

Since its release, my Sonic the Hedgehog sprite editor has supported assembly-formatted mappings and dynamic-pattern-load-cues (DPLCs) by first assembling them to binary and then parsing said binary. This mostly works, but does not account for quirks like how the offset table sometimes lacks its leading label (as in the 2005 Hivebrain disassembly), or how someContinueContinue reading “ClownMapEd v1.3”

Sonic ROM-Hacker’s Guide to Common Assembler Errors

One of the biggest obstacles to newbie Sonic ROM-hackers is the plethora of cryptic assembler errors that will inevitably be encountered, grinding all progress to a halt by preventing their ROM-hacks from being built. Meanwhile, to experienced ROM-hackers, these errors are mundane and easily understood, making it somewhat annoying to see the Basic Q&A threadsContinueContinue reading “Sonic ROM-Hacker’s Guide to Common Assembler Errors”

The Original LZEXE (A.K.A. Kosinski) Compressor Source Code Has Been Released

Last year, I discovered that the Kosinski compression format is actually LZEXE, which was used for compressing DOS executables back in the 90s and the late 80s. Its developer catalogues three versions on his website: v0.90, v0.91, and v0.91e. While only binaries of v0.91 and v0.91e can be found on the website, v0.90 can beContinueContinue reading “The Original LZEXE (A.K.A. Kosinski) Compressor Source Code Has Been Released”

How I Learned to Program

This is my 100th blog post! To celebrate, I figured that I would do something special, and recount how I became a programmer. Be warned: this will get quite opinionated, so if you cannot handle your favourite game engine or language being bashed, then look away! With that said, I hope that you enjoy! InContinueContinue reading “How I Learned to Program”

Porting Music From Sonic 2 (8-bit) to Sonic 1 (16-bit)

9 years ago, I attempted to port music from the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ghW7ardaJE This was only partly successful, as the pitch was wrong, the percussion was missing, and it broke the game’s sounds. After all these years, I wanted to figure where itContinueContinue reading “Porting Music From Sonic 2 (8-bit) to Sonic 1 (16-bit)”

ClownMDEmu v1.1

Try it in your web browser: clownmdemu.clownacy.comDownload: Standalone, libretro I was expecting the first update after v1.0 to be small, but it ballooned into something massive: compatibility has been greatly improved in various areas, and many features have been emulated for the first time! VDP Behaviour Accuracy The Mega Drive’s Video Display Processor has many strange,ContinueContinue reading “ClownMDEmu v1.1”

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