Sonic Robo Blast 2: The Legend of the Black Chaos

Sonic Robo Blast 2: The Legend of the Black Chaos
SRB2 Mod by Callum Dickinson

Thank you for downloading Sonic Robo Blast 2: The Legend of the Black Chaos! This manual shows you how to use the game and information about it.

Contents

1) Story
2) How to use
3) Zones
4) Release information
5) Upcoming features
6) Netgaming information
7) Credits

1) Story

While Sonic and friends are relaxing, Robotnik is going through his grandfather’s old research. He finds confirmation of an eighth chaos emerald! Robotnik detected some strong energy signatures coming from space before, and he starts planning to launch a newly restored Space Colony ARK to the co-ordinates of the signatures. Robotnik takes the Master Emerald with him, and Sonic and his friends chase Robotnik into space.

2) How to use

Sonic Robo Blast 2: The Legend of the Black Chaos is a large-scale modification of SRB2. All of its data is stored in the WAD containers included with the package. More specifically, these files are shcr_srb2tbe.wad, tbe_music.wad, tbe_netgame.wad and tbe_eme.wad. These files are essential for running SRB2:TBE properly. It is recommended to copy all of the contents (manual not required) into your SRB2 folder, and running the SRB2:TBE MS-DOS Batch file. The batch files include sh_srb2tbe.bat and sh_srb2tbe_opengl.bat. If you want to run SRB2:TBE with the Software renderer, use sh_srb2tbe.bat and if you want to run SRB2:TBE with the hardware-accelerated OpenGL renderer, run sh_srb2tbe_opengl.bat. I recommend OpenGL because it looks prettier than Software, has dynamic lighting, allows anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering, fog and has better performance on netgames, wide-open levels and levels with a large number of sectors. However, OpenGL is no longer officially supported by Sonic Team Jr., and OpenGL needs a decent graphics card to run efficiently, and has a few more visual glitches than Software. SRB2 1.09.4 is required for SRB2:TBE to run correctly.

3) Zones

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles each have their own stories, and while they’re all largely played the same, they each have their own act in Egg Factory Zone, and all of their endings end differently (if they get all the chaos emeralds on normal or higher).

(Zones in green are complete, Zones in red aren’t, and zones in yellow are partially done)

Zone 1: Sunset Beach Zone
Our heroes start their adventure at Angel Island's resort beach, the time being around 7pm. This place has been overrun by Robotnik's relatively easy Crawla enemies, you must find a way around them. Sunset Beach is meant to introduce the player into the game, and as such it is easy to get through. Difficulty: Very Easy

Zone 2: Poisoned River Zone
Robotnik tainted the water to slow you down in what was a lush landscape, making it harder to get to the Emerald Altar. You must get past this stage to get to save the Master Emerald before it is too late. This level is a little more challenging, with purple chemical slime and falling platforms. More complex enemies are introduced here, such as the flying enemy, Buzz. Difficulty: Semi-Medium

Filler Zone 1: Emerald Alter
Robotnik has stolen the Master Emerald! You must chase him down, and a factory up ahead is your first clue as to where the Master Emerald now is.

Zone 3: Egg Factory Zone
Sonic has made it to Robotnik's main base of operations. Conveyor belts, crushers, and even MORE slimy waste frequent around this factory. Tails must block the chimneys above the factory to stop polluted air from getting out, while Sonic defeats the enemies so Knuckles can destroy the main computer systems. Difficulty: Medium

Zone 4: Icy Everest Zone
When you destroyed the factory, big doors opened to let steam out, somehow causing a nuclear winter. Angel Island's biggest mountain has turned into Mount Everest! Icy traps, cold water that freezes you without a liquid shield, slippery platforms, and deep snow that slows you down that can also conceal traps makes this zone harder than the others. Difficulty: Medium

Filler Zone 2: Frosty Ruins
You have gotten to the summit of the mountain to find a beam that supposedly turns Angel Island back to normal. But it melts Angel Island's ice to evolve into a fiery volcano.

Zone 5: Volcanic Furnace Zone (note: getting remade.)
Robotnik has turned a cold chill into a big burn. Sonic will have to take care here as fiery traps are everywhere, such as lava rivers, flame walls and concealed pits of death. Sonic must also fend off the heat inside of a volcano once he gets inside to find a machine-plagued molten wasteland. Difficulty: Semi-Hard

Filler Zone 3: Fiery Peak
You have finally reached the highest point of Angel Island. You must get on the runway of the Egg Carrier II, and take control of the ship so you can enter space.

Zone 6: Egg Carrier II Zone
You have made it to Robotnik's flying fortress. You somehow need to take control of the ship so you can dock with the Space Colony ARK, Robotnik’s space station. As you are in the air, giant pits of death are everywhere and old machinery that break off the ship if you stand on it and giant gusts of wind. Robotnik’s strong flying armada, the Jetty-syn, are in full force waiting for you to stop by. Difficulty: Hard

Zone 7: Space Colony ARK Zone
Sonic successfully took control of the Egg Carrier II and docked it with the Space Colony ARK. They must now search the space station for any clue as to where the Master Emerald is. Difficulty: Very Hard

Zones Past 7: ??? Zones
Courageous players who have collected the emeralds on normal or higher for any character enter here. Those who dare to enter here shall find a threat greater than they ever will have faced, and witness devastation of the entire universe. It will take everything Sonic and his friends have to defeat Robotnik’s biggest and most ambitious plan yet. Difficulty: Insanely Hard

4) Release Information

As of this manual’s writing, the current release is b2.08.
Changes:

(1) Icy Everest Zone 1 is FINISHED
(2) Have changed item placement around on some levels, should look and be better.
(3) Solved and fixed what seems to be an unlimited amount of bugs. Undocumented, sorry, but you will notice them as you go through the game.
(4) The level order is no longer screwed (levels still missing), and the game is much more netgame-friendly.
(5) Remade Emerald Altar, much better and is more integrated into the story.
(6) Added egg capsules to the new boss stages.
(7) Updated the cutscenes for the archives.
(8) Finished the cutscene pictures, and updated the cutscenes with a more in-depth story that actually makes sense, is decent for Sonic fanfiction and better language used. The story is WAY more epic than it was and uses music that fits the situation.
(9) The file size of tbe_music.wad is now MUCH smaller, and has MUCH more music in it! I accomplished this by shortening the music and making it loop, reducing the kbps on the Oggs to Variable Bit Rate 96kbps (with practically no difference in audio quality) but over half the file size. I managed to almost half of its original size off of tbe_music.wad! For those who think MP3 is better than Ogg Vorbis, it’s not, a 64kbps Ogg sounds similar to a 96kbps MP3 and higher, at a much lower file size. If you use MP3 for stuff which supports Ogg Vorbis, convert them to Ogg ASAP. You’ll notice the difference.

5) Upcoming features

These are features which will be present in the next major revision of SRB2:TBE, b2.09.

(1) Remade Volcanic Furnace Zone. The old one is horribly old, horribly outdated, and horrible in general.

(2) Remade the first part of Utopian Chasm, added onto most of the other parts.

(3) Added two paths onto the end of ??? Zone, much larger and much more difficult. Also added a final boss SOC.

(4) Cut the first half of Molten Core, and made it much better.

(5) The addition of a new level, Poisoned River Act 1.

(6) And more…

6) Netgaming information

1) SRB2:TBE as of b2.08 now takes measures to ensure the most enjoyable and bug-free experience. To ensure this, I have created the included add-on file called tbe_netgame.wad. Use this at all times if you are using SRB2:TBE in a Co-op or Race netgame. It is not required for Match, Capture The Flag and Circuit.

2) Utopian Chasm and ??? Zone still give off consistency failures, so you have to be careful there. I’ve got measures to prevent them from consfailing on load.

7) Credits

Levels
Callum “GCFreak” Dickinson

Music
Junko Ozawa
Jarel Jones
Eriko Imura
Tetsukazu Nakanishi
McVaffe
Dreams Come True
Howard Drossin
AJ “SSNTails” Freda
Video Game Music Archive

Sonic Object Configuration
Callum “GCFreak” Dickinson
Mikel93

Other Custom Stuff
Sonic Team Junior
Moonlander
ZTaimat
Callum “GCFreak” Dickinson

Beta Testing
Visitors of #TAKIS
Dark Tempest
sb
Ghost Zero
HYPERKNUX the Chaos Echidna
Lein

Special Thanks
BlazingPhoenix
Moonlander
123 Runite
Tapika
AJ “SSNTails” Freda
Mikel93

If there's some credit that needs to be given, and isn't given out here, PM me on the SRB2 Forums.

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