The Warp Room

N. Sanity Beach: ARD Mode is modded version of N. Sanity Beach, for the N. Sane Trilogy on PC. I’ve only just started experimenting with the idea of custom levels so it’s very basic and it’s mostly just the crates that I’ve changed. I didn’t want to do anything too complicated for my first level mod because I just wanted to get it released and show that this kind of this is possible. I’ve made a video explaining a bit more about it and showing how to get all the boxes (the intended way) but if you want to play the level yourself I’d recommend doing that before watching that part of the video so I don’t spoil it all for you.



I’ve uploaded the mod as a patch for Neo_Kesha’s NST Explorer. Follow the steps below to download and install it:

1. Download the mod from here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/e3420842c...RDMODE.zip
   
   
2. Download the NST Explorer from here if you don’t already have it: https://yadi.sk/d/0Ytfg3ca3YjtTN
   
   
3. Unzip NSanityBeach_ARDMODE.zip wherever you want and open the NST Explorer (make sure the game isn't running!).
   
   
4. Click the “Patch” button on the NST Explorer and open the file NSanityBeach_ARDMODE.txt which was extracted from the zip.
   
   
5. Navigate to the “archives” folder of your game installation (...\Steam\steamapps\common\Crash Bandicoot - N Sane Trilogy\archives), select it and click OK.
   
   
6. Wait! The patch will take a while to be applied because level archives are big files. The NST Explorer won’t tell you when it’s done but if you have a look in the archives folder you can see the pak files being updated. Once all 3 have been saved  (L101_NSanityBeach.pak, chunkInfos.pak and juicedomain_permanent.pak), the mod has been installed and it’s safe to run the game. If you’re unsure just wait 5 minutes after starting the patch and that should give it plenty of time to finish. The previous versions of those pak files will be backed up automatically and saved as pak.patch_bak files.
   
   
7. Open the N. Sane Trilogy and start a new game in Crash 1 or load N. Sanity Beach (which should now be called N. Sanity Beach: ARD Mode if you're playing in English). You’ll know if the mod has installed successfully because a nitro crate will have appeared at the start of the level.
   

Please note that sometimes modifying these kinds of files can break other parts of the game - the method I was originally using to swap crates allowed me to do a lot more but it causes the game to crash when loading another level after playing the one that was modified. I haven’t experienced anything like that when using the version of the mod that I’ve uploaded but I haven’t been through every level in the game to check that they all still work correctly so I can’t guarantee that this mod won’t cause any problems, especially when used in combination with other mods. If you run into anything weird then let me know and I’ll look into it.

Huge thanks to Neo_Kesha for the spectacular NST Explorer. Jungle Rollers: ARD Mode coming some time, plus an explanation of how I did all this!

I am so excited to see how you've done that.
Good job!

Nice job here! Cannot wait for how-to about modding, so i could make even lever editor.

Also:

(21-08-2018, 06:16 PM)ARD Wrote: [ -> ]

1. Wait! The patch will take a while to be applied because level archives are big files. The NST Explorer won’t tell you when it’s done but if you have a look in the archives folder you can see the pak files being updated. Once all 3 have been saved  (L101_NSanityBeach.pak, chunkInfos.pak and juicedomain_permanent.pak), the mod has been installed and it’s safe to run the game. If you’re unsure just wait 5 minutes after starting the patch and that should give it plenty of time to finish. The previous versions of those pak files will be backed up automatically and saved as pak.patch_bak files.

(21-08-2018, 07:08 PM)Neo_Kesha Wrote: [ -> ]Nice job here! Cannot wait for how-to about modding, so i could make even lever editor.

Maybe we can sit together on making one? 

(21-08-2018, 07:34 PM)Flaflo Wrote: [ -> ]

(21-08-2018, 07:08 PM)Neo_Kesha Wrote: [ -> ]Nice job here! Cannot wait for how-to about modding, so i could make even lever editor.

Maybe we can sit together on making one? 

You can help with research, but i can't divide tasks in that project between two programmers. Level editor isn't big enough for two people. 
Actually, i could write back end and API, while you could make fancy UI with object Drag'n'Drop in 3D viewport, like in Unity. If you can't, i can do list of objects with fields of params and 3D level preview by myself. That's the only way i can divide tasks

(21-08-2018, 08:23 PM)Neo_Kesha Wrote: [ -> ]

(21-08-2018, 07:34 PM)Flaflo Wrote: [ -> ]

(21-08-2018, 07:08 PM)Neo_Kesha Wrote: [ -> ]Nice job here! Cannot wait for how-to about modding, so i could make even lever editor.

Maybe we can sit together on making one? 

You can help with research, but i can't divide tasks in that project between two programmers. Level editor isn't big enough for two people. 
Actually, i could write back end and API, while you could make fancy UI with object Drag'n'Drop in 3D viewport, like in Unity. If you can't, i can do list of objects with fields of params and 3D level preview by myself. That's the only way i can divide tasks

You are actually telling me, that a full featured level editor is a one man job, that's hilarious. You could put it on github, make a list of what has to be done and I do pull requests.

(21-08-2018, 08:37 PM)Flaflo Wrote: [ -> ]You are actually telling me, that a full featured level editor is a one man job, that's hilarious. You could put it on github, make a list of what has to be done and I do pull requests.

Yeah, for now Level Editor is easy job, because we are not advanced much in NST. We still can't edit level geometry, program behaviors, place triggers and etc. All that we can do for now - add crate, give it position and rotation, etc. Don't know yet. 
tl;dr i work alone but you could help with research of formats.

(21-08-2018, 08:41 PM)Neo_Kesha Wrote: [ -> ]Yeah, for now Level Editor is easy job, because we are not advanced much in NST. We still can't edit level geometry, program behaviors, place triggers and etc. All that we can do for now - add crate, give it position and rotation, etc. Don't know yet. 
tl;dr i work alone but you could help with research of formats.

Well, I was talking about a full featured Level Editor. But anyways, I am not that good in researching unknown formats. So... you can work alone for now, as you wished.

(21-08-2018, 09:29 PM)Flaflo Wrote: [ -> ]

(21-08-2018, 08:41 PM)Neo_Kesha Wrote: [ -> ]Yeah, for now Level Editor is easy job, because we are not advanced much in NST. We still can't edit level geometry, program behaviors, place triggers and etc. All that we can do for now - add crate, give it position and rotation, etc. Don't know yet. 
tl;dr i work alone but you could help with research of formats.

Well, I was talking about a full featured Level Editor. But anyways, I am not that good in researching unknown formats. So... you can work alone for now, as you wished.

The other problem that NST modding tools are much... experimental and messy. I can't write pure perfect and community friendly code when i don't know, what i should do. If we want open source, we need separate project from NST Repacker and IGZ Editor. 

I hope i will enjoy once working with you, but for now all we can do - research formats and do some experimental stuff.

Great mod but how do I unistall?