Spades Tools for SA2B

SPaDeS Tools is a set of tools for modifying the game Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, on PC. It is built upon the fact that it is easy to both read information about the players location and physics data, and that it is possible to create a clone of the game character and inject properties into it. Using these 2 main principles, and a bit of cleverness, it was possible to add some interesting functionality to the game.

The tool is controlled through this window. This application has very specialized uses, and a narrow audience, so the user interface was not the focus of this project.

The first tool, called Save Engine, and main purpose of this program, is the ability to save the game characters location and physics information instantly with the press of a button, and instantly reload back to that position with another button. This gives the player the power to repeatedly practice short sections of the game without needing to replay the entire level, or backtrack through the level. This method also saves and loads the game time, so players can test different strategies to find which method is faster. Up to 10 different locations can be saved at once, and players can switch between which slot is currently being used for saving and loading; the in-game score display is used to tell the user which slot is currently selected.

The second tool, called Ghost Mod, allows the user to record an entire play-through of a stage. When enabled, if the player completes a stage faster than previously it will automatically store the new data. This allows the user to easily keep a record of their fastest play-throughs of each stage. The player can also race against their fastest time, and this will create a clone of that play-through in the game, and allow the player to see it while playing the stage.

Another feature of the Ghost Mod is the ability for players to upload their data online, and share it to other users. Other players can then download these Ghost replays and race against them. This is made easy by a webserver that the tool can upload this data directly to, and players can download Ghost Data directly through the tool.

The Ghost Mod has 2 more main features, firstly it has a mode specifically designed for recording play-throughs of the entire game, instead of just a single level. Using this option will allow a player to race against his own Ghost for an entire play-through of the game. This data is also easily uploaded and downloaded through the tool so that others can race against each others Ghosts. The Ghost mode also has a feature called Replay Mode, which instead of racing against the Ghost Data, it will let you watch the Ghost play through the level. This allows the player to easily see exactly what other players are doing, or examine their own play for mistakes.

The next and most exciting tool is the Race Mode. This tool allows multiple players to race against each other, and shows them in each others game. One player must run the server, then all players must connect to this server, and into a specific race room.

This functionality is achieved by each player's game creating a clone of itself for each other player in the server, then injecting the other players location and physics data into this clone. The players data is read each frame and passed to the server via a socket, then passed directly to the other clients. This does not allow players to interact with objects from another players game, but simple shows their location.

The last tool is the Rewinder. This gives the players the ability to rewind, frame by frame, through the level. They can continue playing from any frame they choose. While rewinding through the level, copies of the game character are created on the path they took, which acts as a visualization of the play-through that they can traverse through.

This tool is complicated and has many parts and intricacies, so if you are interested to learn more, you can watch the video below: