The Quest for Prototype Feature Restoration

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The Quest for Prototype Feature Restoration

Postby EmeraldPlay » Tue Jul 17, 2018 2:43 pm

Introduction
This thread is a sum up of my quest to restore some of the features present in Pre-Alpha versions of Slime Rancher (before 0.2.0). I will also try to explain how to restore some of them on your own.

Required Tools
dnSpy - for editing the code, though any .NET assembly editor will suffice
Unity Assets Bundle Extractor - for editing the level files and sharedassets

You would also need a working copy of Slime Rancher v0.2.3b (or any 0.2.x). I have a method which allows you to obtain those versions, but it is only doable if you already own the game on Steam. You'll also have to back up your saves as v0.2.3b will break them. To obtain it, first enter the Steam Console (with this link), and paste the following (it will download the Win64 build of v0.2.3b):
download_depot 433340 433342 4045174004136343292
Once it's downloaded, replace your current Slime Rancher folder with this version.

Restored Features

Prototype Indigo Quarry
Image
The first and arguably the most important restored feature I have to show is the prototype Indigo Quarry. It was hidden during the 0.2.x versions, so that players could not see it. In 0.3.0, parts of it were repurposed into the new Quarry cells. 01 became Entrance, 02 became Donut Hole, 04 became Over Under, and 03 was removed completely. I have more pics of this area, which you can view here. What's interesting about the Prototype Indigo Quarry is that it used to have Mint Mango trees in it, even though no Honey Slimes were present.

It's very easy to restore. Open the level0 file with UABE, locate the file ID 548 with the name GameObject zoneQUARRY, extract it, change the 0 bool m_IsActive setting from false to true, reimport it, and you're done!

The Pit
Image
Another quite important restored feature I have to show is a prototype ranch expansion, the Pit. You probably have already saw it as it's shown in the first trailer. It existed in the place of the Overgrowth and in 0.2.0 it was placed to the right of the Grotto and made invisible. This likely made prototype saves no longer accessible in 0.2.0, as you had plots removed. It existed there until 0.4.0, when it was removed completely. Another interesting tidbit regarding this place is that saves with used plots in there are no longer usable in 1.3.0.

It's very easy to restore. Open the level0 file with UABE, locate the file ID 13221 with the name GameObject cellRanch_Pit, extract it, change the 0 bool m_IsActive setting from false to true, reimport it, and you're done! I have also connected the Pit to the Overgrowth in my modded world, though that's a bit too complex to be covered here.

Sand Trap's Resources
Image
Sand Trap, the prototype cell that used to be in the current beach's position, and the cell some mistaked for the Glass Desert, used to have Slimes and resources in it. It also had a currently unused prop in it, asteroids. The Slimes and resources don't differ a whole lot from the regular Dry Reef, except for one thing - an Oca Oca patch, present here for unknown reasons.

It's easy to restore. Open the level0 file with UABE, locate the file ID 10458 with the name GameObject Resources, extract it, change the 0 bool m_IsActive setting from false to true, reimport it, then locate the file ID 674 with the name GameObject Slimes, do the same thing, and you're done!

Prototype Ruins Boom Gordo
Image
The prototype ruins, as some of you might have already known from Wonda's thread about it, used to have a Boom Gordo, and other resources around! It survived roughly until 0.6.0 was released. Unlike the current Boom Gordo, it did not explode upon popping. As for the ruins themselves, I find it interesting that they had Briar Hen nodes even in 0.2.0, when there was a glitch preventing them from spawning in other areas.

It's easy to restore. Open the level0 file with UABE, locate the file ID 6511 with the name GameObject Resources, extract it, change the 0 bool m_IsActive setting from false to true, reimport it, then locate the file ID 10918 with the name GameObject Slimes, do the same thing, and you're done!

Moss WIP Cell
Image
This is arguably the least interesting cell out of the bunch. It used to be the cell that connects the Dry Reef with the Moss Blanket. The only interesting thing about it is that Gordos might have been first tested on it, as there's a missing prefab present here.

It's very easy to restore. Open the level0 file with UABE, locate the file ID 14519 with the name GameObject cellMoss_WIP, extract it, change the 0 bool m_IsActive setting from false to true, reimport it, and you're done!

Prototype Ranch Expansion Doors
Image
These weird doors were once supposed to be used to close off Ranch Expansions. To activate them, you will need to pay 4000 Newbucks. Once that's done, you'll be allowed to open or close them. They're the only objects that kept the old ranch tech design in versions after 0.2.0. Around 0.3.0, they were removed.

It's easy to restore. Open the level0 file with UABE, find one of the two objects with the name GameObject doorOpenCapsule01, extract it, change the 0 bool m_IsActive setting from false to true, reimport it, and you're done!

Weather
Image
Weather used to be present in Slime Rancher but since 0.2.0 it was disabled. It still exists in the game, even to this day! It was very basic as it only included rain, and it was purely cosmetic. It didn't even affect ponds like the slimepedia entry claimed it did.

Image
To restore it, open Assembly_CSharp.dll with dnSpy or some other .NET assembly editor, locate the class AmbianceDirector, and remove the highlighted part from the code.

Modifiers
Modifiers are- err, I can't actually mention what they do since they're going to be reused in Viktor's update. All you need to know is that I did manage to enable them, and that they were present in the game ever since the prototype versions, but got disabled since 0.2.0. And yes, vampiric chickens are there.

Slime Filter
Although I didn't restore this feature, I thought it would be interesting to talk about. When it's enabled, Slimes can't be vacced and instead will bounce off the vac. The feature was removed in 0.2.1 for unknown reasons.

Prototype Tarr (Black Slime)
Image.
Prototype Tarr looked much different from the present ones. They didn't use the bite model and they resembled dark slimes with red pupils. Although my attempt at restoring them isn't 100% true to the original prototype Tarr since the mouth and eye textures got removed in 0.2.0, I think I got close. It also uses the original prototype Tarr material which was borrowed from the Scareslime Tarr (which still used it until 0.2.5!)

I won't cover how to do this one as it's a bit complex.

Feral Regular Largos
Image
This feature used not to be unique to Hunter Largos. All Largos were able to turn feral if sufficiently agitated. It was removed in 0.2.0.

To restore this feature, you'd have to change some code in the SlimeFeral class. During restoring this feature, I managed to make it work on regular Slimes too, which made hilarious results, such as a feral Gold Slime.

Hectic Mode + Dawn & Dusk Music
Hectic mode was triggered when there were more than 20 slimes nearby. When it was enabled, the theme that plays when Rush Mode is about to end played. Slime Rancher also used to have music played at 6:00 and 18:00. The 18:00 theme got removed from the game completely later on, as it's not even present in the official soundtrack. You can listen to it here.

Splash Screen Slimepedia Entry
Image
This was the splash screen displayed for testers playing Prototype 3.

End Results
Image
Here's how my modified world looks like compared to what most other players had at that time. Mine's below, while the unmodified version is above.
Image
The differences:
-Prototype Indigo Quarry
-New connection to Quarry
-The Pit, connected to the Overgrowth
-Moss WIP
-Less mtnBases around Feral Canyon and Sand Trap
-Sand Trap has resources and slimes
-Ruins have resources and slimes and are connected to the main Moss Blanket
-Reef_QuarryEntrance area removed
-Teleporter added in Quarry04
-Prototype Ranch Expansion doors

Conclusion
That's about all as for the features I was able to restore. There are still more features present in the earlier versions, but I am unable to restore those. For example there's Tree Pocket and Pass. Those were cells in the Dry Reef which existed around the Quarry Entrance area. Since they were purged aside from the cell data remaining, it's not possible to restore them. There are also Slimenadoes (which were probably repurposed as Dervish Slime tornadoes) and much of the prototype world that existed before the zones we have today. So, if the devs are reading this, please consider showing us more stuff from the prototypes or even sharing those early builds if possible.
My avatar was taken from Miomilla's chart.

Not visiting this place as often so contact me on Discord if you want anything from me.
-----
Links:
The partnered Discord server for Slime Rancher I once moderated
Restored prototype features
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Re: The Quest for Prototype Feature Restoration

Postby SupaGamaBoi » Tue Jul 17, 2018 4:56 pm

Neat!
Dank SupaGamaBoi wrote:
I EAT THE MEMES
I DRINK THE MEMES
WITHOUT MEMES I WILL DIE

BEWARE THE MAN WHO SPEAKS IN HANDS
LOOK AT THAT NOOB GO
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Re: The Quest for Prototype Feature Restoration

Postby GoldenLucky99 » Tue Jul 17, 2018 5:13 pm

Wooo, nice job!
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Re: The Quest for Prototype Feature Restoration

Postby DarkCreature97 » Thu Jul 19, 2018 2:44 am

I wish we still had the doors for the expansion. Tbh we do have them but they not in use, I hope they make them functional.
I want more Slime Rancher tings fam.
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Re: The Quest for Prototype Feature Restoration

Postby Lionmeow » Thu Jul 19, 2018 9:05 am

Heh... I knew this would come eventually.
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Re: The Quest for Prototype Feature Restoration

Postby Lionmeow » Thu Jul 19, 2018 10:01 am

How do you get the dnSpy thingy to delete the code that disables weather?
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Re: The Quest for Prototype Feature Restoration

Postby EmeraldPlay » Thu Jul 19, 2018 10:13 am

Use the Edit Method function.
My avatar was taken from Miomilla's chart.

Not visiting this place as often so contact me on Discord if you want anything from me.
-----
Links:
The partnered Discord server for Slime Rancher I once moderated
Restored prototype features
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Re: The Quest for Prototype Feature Restoration

Postby Lionmeow » Thu Jul 19, 2018 11:12 am

There were a few features that didn't work such as:
- Moss WIP Cell
-The Pit (Nvm I found it behind the Grotto)
Also, the Indigo Quarry is not connected to the Dry Reef, and there is a barrier in the entrance the the cave that leads to the Indigo quarry.
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Re: The Quest for Prototype Feature Restoration

Postby EmeraldPlay » Thu Jul 19, 2018 11:38 am

Moss WIP is near where the Honey Gordo is located today. It partially clips into the area too, so it's not easy to find.

Image
The prototype Indigo Quarry used to be connected to the Dry Reef, as you can see in this pic, but the Dry Reef cells that connected to it no longer exist. That cave in 0.2.3b that was supposed to lead to the Indigo Quarry is more similar to the version seen today.
My avatar was taken from Miomilla's chart.

Not visiting this place as often so contact me on Discord if you want anything from me.
-----
Links:
The partnered Discord server for Slime Rancher I once moderated
Restored prototype features
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Re: The Quest for Prototype Feature Restoration

Postby Lionmeow » Thu Jul 19, 2018 11:50 am

How did you edit the map so stuff is connected?
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Re: The Quest for Prototype Feature Restoration

Postby EmeraldPlay » Thu Jul 19, 2018 11:53 am

It was much more complex than just setting something from false to true. I had to add new objects and remove existing ones, and I had to move and rotate the existing cells.
My avatar was taken from Miomilla's chart.

Not visiting this place as often so contact me on Discord if you want anything from me.
-----
Links:
The partnered Discord server for Slime Rancher I once moderated
Restored prototype features
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Re: The Quest for Prototype Feature Restoration

Postby Jeb » Wed Aug 08, 2018 2:10 pm

I'm going to necro this post, but I think it's worth it. This is amazing stuff.
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Re: The Quest for Prototype Feature Restoration

Postby Jeb » Wed Aug 08, 2018 2:28 pm

I would like to edit my necro post above, but can't for some reason. I'll add by saying that bringing this post back up shows some ways to do modding for Slime Rancher. This is a needle in a hay stack for some of us.
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Re: The Quest for Prototype Feature Restoration

Postby slimeyjames » Sun Aug 25, 2019 11:04 pm

Which trailer for the pit?
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Re: The Quest for Prototype Feature Restoration

Postby EmeraldPlay » Mon Aug 26, 2019 2:12 am

slimeyjames wrote:Which trailer for the pit?

This one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAfP-JCjrmc
My avatar was taken from Miomilla's chart.

Not visiting this place as often so contact me on Discord if you want anything from me.
-----
Links:
The partnered Discord server for Slime Rancher I once moderated
Restored prototype features
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