How To Use Sonic GLvl with Sonic Unleashed: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:52, 24 April 2025

Note

This guide covers how to setup Sonic Unleashed Xbox 360 levels in GLvl, but does not cover how to use this tool or how to set it up for PS3 levels. It's recommended that you also read the Sonic Generations GLvl guide.

Info

This guide uses the following tools:

SonicGLvl

Latest SonicGLvl now can open Sonic Unleashed levels without needing to decompress any archive or move around files. Open a level through "File -> Open Level" and select the # archive of a level of your choice. Refer to stage IDs to find the level you need.

Setting Up Shaders

To display the level with game-accurate graphics, you need to copy the "shader.ar" file from your game installation to SonicGLvl's "database/shaders" folder. SonicGLvl will warn you about this if you have not done this step.

Copying Files To Your Mod

If you open a level directly from the game files, you have the risk of corrupting your installation when you save your changes. It's recommended to first copy the files to a mod, and open the level from your mod directory. As an example, the files you need to copy for Windmill Isle Act 2 (Day) are as follows:

Packed/ActD_MykonosAct2/Stage.pfd
#ActD_MykonosAct2.ar.00
#ActD_MykonosAct2.arl
ActD_MykonosAct2.ar.00
ActD_MykonosAct2.arl

The stage ID and the amount of AR files you need to copy will vary between levels.

Missing Textures

Sonic Unleashed stores stage textures in different archives to share them between levels and save space. If you open a level from your game directory, SonicGLvl will automatically extract them to its "cache/country_name/slot_resources" folder.

However, if you open the level from your mod files, and not copy over these archives, SonicGLvl won't be able to find the textures. To solve this, you can first open a level from the respective country region from the base game folder, then re-open the level from your mod directory.

As an example, for Apotos, the common texture archives are named as follows:

CmnActD_Terrain_Mykonos
CmnActN_Terrain_Mykonos
CmnMykonos

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Notice|type=note|content=This guide covers how to setup Sonic Unleashed Xbox 360 levels in GLvl, but does not cover how to use this tool or how to set it up for PS3 levels. It's recommended that you also read the [[How To Use Sonic GLvl with Sonic Generations|Sonic Generations GLvl guide]].}}{{Notice|type=info|content=This guide uses the following tools:
-* [[SonicGLvl|SonicGLvl]]
+* [[SonicGLvl|SonicGLvl]]}}
-* [[Unleashed Mod Toolbox|Unleashed Mod Toolbox]]
-* Unleashed Object Template
-* Xbox 360 SDK, find this yourself}}
-== Preparing .ar Files ==
+Latest [[SonicGLvl]] now can open Sonic Unleashed levels without needing to decompress any archive or move around files. Open a level through "File -> Open Level" and select the # archive of a level of your choice. Refer to [[Sonic Unleashed Stage IDs|stage IDs]] to find the level you need.
-This example will be editing Windmill Isle Act 1 Day. Open your extracted Unleashed game folder and locate your files. In my case, the files are:
- #ActD_MykonosAct1.ar.00
- #ActD_MykonosAct1.arl
- ActD_MykonosAct1.ar.00
- ActD_MykonosAct1.ar.01
- ActD_MykonosAct1.arl
-Once located you will need to copy those files to the #files folder inside your Mod Toolbox directory. now open #SUModToolbox.bat and press 3 and enter to decompress the files, press 1 or 2 depending on the system and press enter.
-Now copy the files inside #output/DecompressedFiles to a seperate folder. In order for GLvl to read the model you need to make a folder called "Packed" and inside your Unleashed game folder go to "Packed" and copy the level folder to the new "Packed" folder next to your decompressed .ar files.
+== Setting Up Shaders ==
+To display the level with game-accurate graphics, you need to copy the "shader.ar" file from your game installation to SonicGLvl's "database/shaders" folder. SonicGLvl will warn you about this if you have not done this step.
-== Preparing GLvl ==
+== Copying Files To Your Mod ==
-Locate your Xbox 360 SDK's bin/win32 folder and copy xbcompress.exe, xbdecompress.exe, xbdm.dll, msvcp71.dll and msvcr71.dll and paste them into your GLvls "bin" directory.
+If you open a level directly from the game files, you have the risk of corrupting your installation when you save your changes. It's recommended to first copy the files to a mod, and open the level from your mod directory. As an example, the files you need to copy for Windmill Isle Act 2 (Day) are as follows:
-Open your GLvl folder and go to <code>/database/LevelDatabase.xml</code>, you will need to add your entry for the level, in my case it would be:
+* Packed/ActD_MykonosAct2/Stage.pfd
+* #ActD_MykonosAct2.ar.00
+* #ActD_MykonosAct2.arl
+* ActD_MykonosAct2.ar.00
+* ActD_MykonosAct2.arl
-<code><Entry name="ActD_MykonosAct1" geometry="ActD_MykonosAct1" layout_merge="" slot="WindmillIsle 1" game="Unleashed/"></code>
+The stage ID and the amount of AR files you need to copy will vary between levels.
-Afterwards the file should look something like this:<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">
+== Missing Textures ==
-<LevelDatabase>
+Sonic Unleashed stores stage textures in different archives to share them between levels and save space. If you open a level from your game directory, SonicGLvl will automatically extract them to its "cache/country_name/slot_resources" folder.
-  <Entry name="ghz200"     geometry="ghz200"        layout_merge=""     slot="GreenHillZone"     game="Generations" />
-  <Entry name="ghz201"     geometry="ghz200"        layout_merge=""     slot="GreenHillZone"     game="Generations" />
-  <Entry name="cte200"     geometry="cte200"        layout_merge=""     slot="CityEscapeZone"    game="Generations" />
-  <Entry name="ActD_Beach" geometry="ActD_Beach"    layout_merge=""     slot="JungleJoyride"     game="Unleashed" />
-  <Entry name="ActD_Africa" geometry="ActD_Africa"    layout_merge=""     slot="SavanaCitadel"     game="Unleashed" />
-  <Entry name="ActD_MykonosAct1" geometry="ActD_MykonosAct1"    layout_merge=""     slot="WindmillIsle 1"     game="Unleashed"/>
-</LevelDatabase>
-</syntaxhighlight>Open "Unleashed Object Template.zip" and extract the contents here, Replace files if asked.
-Save the file, open GLvl, press Ctrl+O and find your decompressed .ar files. Click "Ok" on the first prompt and click "Yes" on the prompt asking about unpacking terrain.
+However, if you open the level from your mod files, and not copy over these archives, SonicGLvl won't be able to find the textures. To solve this, you can first open a level from the respective country region from the base game folder, then re-open the level from your mod directory.
-== Extracting Textures and adding them to GLvl ==
+As an example, for Apotos, the common texture archives are named as follows:
-Inside Unleashed Mod Toolbox delete the files inside #files and #output. From your Unleashed game folder copy the various Cmn.ar files for your level and paste them inside the #files of the Unleashed ToolBox.
-Open #SUModToolbox.bat and press 4 and enter to decompress the files, press 1 and enter and press 1 or 2 depending on the system and press enter. go to #files and delete the contents of the folder. Inside #output you might notice some files have not been extracted. This is because files other than ar.00 and arl don't extract, however you fix this by simply changing the file extension to ar.00, changing the file name and re-extracting them in the ToolBox.
+* CmnActD_Terrain_Mykonos
+* CmnActN_Terrain_Mykonos
-Copy the contents of each folder in #output/ExtractedFiles into GLvl/cache/your-level/resources, replacing files if asked.
+* CmnMykonos