How To Use Sonic GLvl with Sonic Unleashed
The latest SonicGLvl can now 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 the Stage IDs page to find the level that 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 a DLC or 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 DLC or mod directory.
As an example, for Apotos, the common texture archives are named as follows:
- CmnActD_Terrain_Mykonos
- CmnActN_Terrain_Mykonos
- CmnMykonos
Missing Models
SonicGLvl does not come with the game assets, so objects are going to appear as cubes. To solve this, you need to extract the relevant AR files to SonicGLvl's "database/resources" folder. Most required assets are stored in SonicActionCommon/EvilActionCommon archives in the base game.
If you are unable to find the model for an object, you can open the corresponding object template from "database/objects" folder, and look for an Extra parameter with model as the type:
<Extra type="model" name="cmn_obj_sk2_hintring.model" />
In this example, the HintRing object uses the cmn_obj_sk2_hintring.model file. You can then search for this file name in the Sonic Unleashed File Index to find the archive it's stored in, and extract it.