Mod Setup

This page will explain how to use the Reloaded II Mod Loader to create a custom stage mod for Sonic Heroes. Note that we must use Reloaded II, not Heroes Mod Loader and not the first Reloaded Mod Loader.

Steps

1. First of all, you should be able to open Reloaded II and play other Sonic Heroes mods with it. If you don't know how to do that, see this page.
2. Follow this guide to understand how to create a new blank Heroes mod in Reloaded II.
3. Alternatively, you can also copy the folder for another stage mod (I recommend Shadowth's Radical Highway as it contains the proper file structure and no additional code files),

If you have trouble understanding how to set up your folders and files, please examine the files of another stage mod yourself to see how it's done.

Mod Folder Structure

Your mod folder must have the same name of your mod ID (for example: sonicheroes.stages.testcustomstage). This will go in Reloaded II's Mods folder. This folder contains a Stages folder, a ModConfig.json file and a Preview.png file. You must edit the ModConfig.json file in a text editor to match your mod's info.

Here is sample content for a ModConfig.json. Replace the data below with your own custom stage's. If Reloaded II is not running your mod properly, there is a chance you haven't configured this file correctly.

{
  "ModId": "sonicheroes.stages.mycustomstage",
  "ModName": "Sonic Heroes: My Custom Stage",
  "ModAuthor": "yournamegoeshere",
  "ModVersion": "1.0.0",
  "ModDescription": "Custom stage mod for Sonic Heroes, replacing Frog Forest.",
  "ModIcon": "Preview.png",
  "ModDependencies": [
    "sonicheroes.utils.stageinjector",
    "sonicheroes.utils.toner"
  ],
  "SupportedAppId": [
    "tsonic_win.exe"
  ]
}

One single Reloaded II mod can contain only one, or multiple different stages. Each stage much be in a separate folder, each of these folders must be in the Stages folder. You can give these folders any name you want.

In each stage folder, you will find a folder named Files and two files named Stage.json and Splines.json. You must create the Files folder, but you do not need to create these files manually. Heroes Power Plant is able to generate them.

Note the folder path on top of the image. Inside the Files folder, there must be a dvdroot folder, which then will mimic the structure of the actual game's dvdroot folder. The files for a stage will all be located in the dvdroot folder, or in one of its sub-folders.

Use the Mod Loader Config Editor to create the Stage.json file and save it in the proper place. Splines.json will be created and updated automatically by the Spline Editor.

The individual files for each aspect of the stage (ONE files, BIN files, TXD files, CL files...) are all managed by their respective editors. Some of them must be copied from the original game and then edited, while others must be created in HPP.

TONERR

The One Expandonger Reloaded Reloaded is a Reloaded II mod that allows you to load bigger files than usual from inside ONE archives. This is sometimes necessary as custom stages can have files (such as BSP models) bigger than the ones supported by the game.

Add sonicheroes.utils.toner to the list of dependencies in the ModConfig.json, as specified in the sample file, to enable TONERR. If you do not have it downloaded, Reloaded II will automatically download it for you when you run the mod. Even if your mod doesn't need TONERR, it doesn't hurt to enable it just in case.

Custom Mod

This is the most advanced step of creating a custom Heroes stage. You should only try this after you're experienced with everything else.

Reloaded II's Stage Injector can't do more than replacing files, start positions and splines. If you want to edit stuff such as bobsleds, Team Chaotix's mission goals, the amount of items you must collect in their missions, the amount of minutes you have for Team Sonic's Extra mission, the ranking requirements (A, B, C, D ranks) for each team, you must create your own mod DLL, and for that you must know at least the basics of programming in C# with Microsoft Visual Studio. Not only that, you can also add your own code to the game, such as the custom coded mid-level music change implemented in the Emerald Coast stage mod. More details on this will be added later, for know if you want to know more about this, you can ask on Heroes Hacking Central on Discord.