MNOG Improvement Mod

[Ontocron]

Mata Nui Online Game Improvement Mod

or MNOGIM

MNOG is a well-made flash game that, thanks to its use of vector graphics, still looks great even two decades later. However, it does suffer from a few bugs, as well as from the compression once needed to send the non-vector graphics over dial-up internet. My goal with this project is to improve the experience of playing MNOG to be the best it can be.

 

Those at the BioMedia Project have provided versions of MNOG on their website that play at the appropriate 18 fps and save your progress as you play. I have used their original 2001 auto-saving version as a base.

 

High-Quality JPEG Replacement

MNOG makes use of many highly-compressed JPEG images. I have re-created nearly every image at the same resolution, but much higher quality. A few images didn’t have an obvious method for re-creation, such as the Ta-Wahi beach sand, so instead I either upscaled with various methods or cleaned up the jpeg artifacts to the best of my ability.

Bug Fixes

I have fixed a few bugs in the game, such as Maku teleporting to Po-Wahi, incorrectly overlapping layers, and typos.

General Changes

I have made a number of changes to improve the gameplay: The Telescope wouldn’t update because it looked for 2001 dates, now it updates as you progress through the game; Maku won’t arrive on the beach until you have visited Vakama; A guard will stop you from using the Ta-Onu Highway until after Ga-Koro; Added black bars to the sides of the screen to prevent widescreens from viewing non-playable area; Book of Chronicles can now scroll from bottom to top and vice-versa; Stopped the Ta-Koro gate from instantly slamming down in front of you when you click it; Disabled ability to cross lava when bridge is down & lowered bridge sprites; Villagers no longer tell you that Nokama has a mission for you until you have the chisel; You can now update Maku on Huki’s status; Added check so that Kapura will not be wandering the woods while also in your company.

Color Consistency

I've modified several Matoran colors, such as changing Matoran eye colors to be consistent with how they are shown in later animations, and a few instances of incorrectly colored parts.

Clone Replacement

I've changed the appearance of several otherwise identical Matoran to be a little more unique. Eventually I plan for almost all Matoran to have their own unique colors/appearance.

Full list of All-In-One changes can be found here.

 

How To Install

You’ll first need to install MNOG (Original 2001 Version) from BioMedia Project.

You can download the mod as an

All-In-One

or you can grab separate sections.

 

Install these separate sections in this order as desired:

1. Bug Fixes

2. High-Quality JPEG Replacement

3. General Changes + High-Quality JPEG Replacement

4. Color Consistency + General Changes + High-Quality JPEG Replacement

5. Clone Replacement + Color Consistency + General Changes + High-Quality JPEG Replacement

 

For the All-In-One:

Unzip 'MNOGIM All In One.zip' and copy the ‘Mata Nui Online Game’ folder to the same folder that holds your ‘Mata Nui Online Game.exe’ file. Overwrite all files it asks to overwrite. You are now ready to go.

 

For Bug Fixes:

Unzip the .zip file and copy the ‘Mata Nui Online Game’ folder to the same folder that holds you ‘Mata Nui Online Game.exe’ file. Overwrite all files it asks to overwrite.

 

For High-Quality JPEG Replacement:

Same as for Bug Fixes.

 

For General Changes + High-Quality JPEG Replacement:

Install High-Quality JPEG Replacement and then General Changes the same way as Bug Fixes.

 

For Color Consistency + General Changes + High-Quality JPEG Replacement:

Install High-Quality JPEG Replacement and then General Changes and then Color Consistency the same way as Bug Fixes.

 

For Clone Replacement + Color Consistency + General Changes + High-Quality JPEG Replacement:

Install High-Quality JPEG Replacement and then General Changes and then Color Consistency and then Clone Replacement the same way as Bug Fixes.

Edited August 10, 2023 by Ontocron

[Toa of Mirrors]

This looks amazing! I can't wait to try it. Thanks for releasing this.

EDIT: Okay, I'm playing All-In-One, and I'm loving all the fixes and new additions, but I've noticed one little remaining bug. I talked to Maglya, who gave me the Lavaboard before I even got my backpack, so the add item animation doesn't play. Should the scene be edited so that he doesn't show up until passing some sort of backpack check?

If it would help, JSLBrowning did something like that for his edits of the game. And he thoroughly documented how he made all the changes here: MNOG Documentation (google.com)

Edited August 14, 2022 by Toa of Mirrors
Playtest notes

[Ontocron]

On 8/13/2022 at 10:16 PM, Toa of Mirrors said:

This looks amazing! I can't wait to try it. Thanks for releasing this.

EDIT: Okay, I'm playing All-In-One, and I'm loving all the fixes and new additions, but I've noticed one little remaining bug. I talked to Maglya, who gave me the Lavaboard before I even got my backpack, so the add item animation doesn't play. Should the scene be edited so that he doesn't show up until passing some sort of backpack check?

If it would help, JSLBrowning did something like that for his edits of the game. And he thoroughly documented how he made all the changes here: MNOG Documentation (google.com)

Thanks, glad you like it! I don't really want to stop Maglya from spawning, because I figure the player might not wait for him to walk into view after the first visit to Ta-Koro. You're right, though, it is awkward. I think it would make sense for him to simply refrain from giving you the surfboard until after you have the backpack. In fact, that'll probably be included in the next update. For now, here's an updated swf file for that scene that you can drop into your Mata Nui Online Game folder.

[Toa of Mirrors]

23 hours ago, Keyblade87 said:

Thanks, glad you like it! I don't really want to stop Maglya from spawning, because I figure the player might not wait for him to walk into view after the first visit to Ta-Koro. You're right, though, it is awkward. I think it would make sense for him to simply refrain from giving you the surfboard until after you have the backpack. In fact, that'll probably be included in the next update. For now, here's an updated swf file for that scene that you can drop into your Mata Nui Online Game folder.

Thanks, I'll try it right now! And congratulations for getting mentioned on BZP's news feed!

EDIT: I ran the original beach mosaic from I.1-S.swf through a number of different upscaling processes, and the free one at zyro.com did the best job of it, so I've attached it below. It also increased the resolution x4, so after shrinking it back down with waifu2x, I used FFDec to replace the version in your modified SWF, but the top looked a bit iffy because Zyro had a little trouble upscaling the transparent area. So, I removed the top 9 lines from it and replaced them with the top 9 lines from your version of the mosaic, then replaced it in the SWF and saved the SWF. It came out pretty good, I must say. I've attached a 7zipped copy of it below as well. I included the zyro upscale image in the 7z file because BZPower seems to be dumbing down image attachments.

 

 

I-1-S_Upscaled.7z

Edited August 17, 2022 by Toa of Mirrors
SWF improvements

[Ontocron]

Wow, that's an impressive result! The 7zip file is "Unavailable", but it's clearly a big improvement. It even looks like it could have been the original, uncompressed image; great work! This could help out the sandy beach textures the most, since there's only so much Photoshop could do with such a noisy image.

[Toa of Mirrors]

On 8/17/2022 at 4:53 PM, Keyblade87 said:

Wow, that's an impressive result! The 7zip file is "Unavailable", but it's clearly a big improvement. It even looks like it could have been the original, uncompressed image; great work! This could help out the sandy beach textures the most, since there's only so much Photoshop could do with such a noisy image.

I don't know why the file would be "unavailable", but just to be safe, I've uploaded it to Mediafire. You can view it here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/7oc92bee9e3p9gc/I.1-S_Upscaled.7z/file

Though I must warn you, Zyro is not perfect. The last few sets of footsteps are faded and barely visible in the upscaled image compared to the original. But it's still generally a major improvement.

EDIT: I'd have posted this next section as a separate post, but BZPower has a strict policy against double-posting, so I have to make this update an edit instead.

I ran the bitmaps from I.4-E.swf through Zyro and worked the same magic on the top part as before, this time using a waifu2x upscale as the transparency edge. I similarly edited a few other SWFs. I'll post all my upscales and SWFs as attachments and on mediafire as one big 7zip file:

MNOGIM-Zyro.7z

https://www.mediafire.com/file/crymla67tvluydw/MNOGIM-Zyro.7z/file

Edited August 28, 2022 by Toa of Mirrors
I.4-E.swf et al.

[TahnokTrapper]

On 8/10/2022 at 5:31 AM, Keyblade87 said:

Mata Nui Online Game Improvement Mod

or MNOGIM

 

MNOG is a well-made flash game that, thanks to its use of vector graphics, still looks great even two decades later. However, it does suffer from a few bugs, as well as from the compression once needed to send the non-vector graphics over dial-up internet. My goal with this project is to improve the experience of playing MNOG to be the best it can be.

 

Those at the BioMedia Project have provided versions of MNOG on their website that play at the appropriate 18 fps and save your progress as you play. I have used their original 2001 auto-saving version as a base.

 

High-Quality JPEG Replacement

MNOG makes use of many highly-compressed JPEG images. I have re-created nearly every image at the same resolution, but much higher quality. A few images didn’t have an obvious method for re-creation, such as the Ta-Wahi beach sand, so instead I cleaned up the jpeg artifacts to the best of my ability. There are a couple images toward the end of the game that I’m still working on, but should be done for the next update.

Bug Fixes

I have fixed a few bugs in the game, such as Maku teleporting to Po-Wahi, incorrectly overlapping layers, and typos.

General Changes

I have made a number of changes to improve the gameplay: The Telescope wouldn’t update because it looked for 2001 dates, now it updates as you progress through the game; Maku won’t arrive on the beach until you have visited Vakama; A guard will stop you from using the Ta-Onu Highway until after Po-Koro; Added black bars to the sides of the screen to prevent widescreens from viewing non-playable area; Book of Chronicles can now scroll from bottom to top and vice-versa; Stopped the Ta-Koro gate from instantly slamming down in front of you when you click it; Disabled ability to cross lava when bridge is down & lowered bridge sprites; Villagers no longer tell you that Nokama has a mission for you until you have the chisel; You can now update Maku on Huki’s status; Added check so that Kapura will not be wandering the woods while also in your company.

Color Consistency

I've modified several Matoran colors, most notably Jala's eyes from green to yellow, and his feet from red to yellow.

 

Full list of All-In-One changes can be found here.

 

How To Install

You’ll first need to install MNOG (Original 2001 Version) from BioMedia Project.

You can download the mod as an

All-In-One

or you can grab separate sections.

 

Install these separate sections in this order as desired:

1. Bug Fixes

2. High-Quality JPEG Replacement

3. General Changes + High-Quality JPEG Replacement

4. Color Consistency + General Changes + High-Quality JPEG Replacement

 

For the All-In-One:

Unzip 'MNOGIM All In One.zip' and copy the ‘Mata Nui Online Game’ folder to the same folder that holds your ‘Mata Nui Online Game.exe’ file. Overwrite all files it asks to overwrite. You are now ready to go.

 

For Bug Fixes:

Unzip the .zip file and copy the ‘Mata Nui Online Game’ folder to the same folder that holds you ‘Mata Nui Online Game.exe’ file. Overwrite all files it asks to overwrite.

 

For High-Quality JPEG Replacement:

Same as for Bug Fixes.

 

For General Changes + High-Quality JPEG Replacement:

Install High-Quality JPEG Replacement and then General Changes the same way as Bug Fixes.

 

For Color Consistency + General Changes + High-Quality JPEG Replacement:

Install High-Quality JPEG Replacement and then General Changes and then Color Consistency the same way as Bug Fixes.

Just finished playing. It's a very fine mod, I like how the telescope finally works as intended.

I do have some notes, some other things that could be fixed:

 

Notes on grammar:

- NPC dialogue in Po-Koro missing some punctuation.

--> (villager) "I'll trade you two Husi for your Maha[.]"

--> (Hafu) "Wow...[]Sometimes I impress myself[.]"

- When prompted to ride as Kongu's second, ride Puku and ride the cablecar to Ko-Koro, the options for Yes and No have no period.

- extra spaces in the road to Kini-Nui cutscene with Taipu and Hafu --> "Another Hafu Original[]![]"

 

Notes on bugs:

- when entering Le-Koro for the first time, going up and turning around to look down, there is a lone Matoran silhouette dancing in the village square. It's not supposed to be there.

- when I entered Le-Koro, it was with Taipu present. He was present in the all the cutscenes and in the celebration but oddly not in the Rama nest next to the fallen Kahu.

- when you've gone through the Ko-Koro Wastes and go to the scene where you can click to talk with Matoro and Nuju, the screen still locks up so you can't scroll up or down.

Edited January 3, 2023 by TahnokTrapper

[Ontocron]

On 1/1/2023 at 11:44 AM, TahnokTrapper said:

- when you've gone through the Ko-Koro Wastes and go to the scene where you can click to talk with Matoro and Nuju, the screen still locks up so you can't scroll up or down.

It seems there are a couple scene transitions that forgot to allow scrolling. I can fix that easily enough.

On 1/1/2023 at 11:44 AM, TahnokTrapper said:

- when entering Le-Koro for the first time, going up and turning around to look down, there is a lone Matoran silhouette dancing in the village square. It's not supposed to be there.

- when I entered Le-Koro, it was with Taipu present. He was present in the all the cutscenes and in the celebration but oddly not in the Rama nest next to the fallen Kahu.

The lone matoran silhouette is Taipu, and you're right, he shouldn't be there. Both these problems are related to Taipu's status variable. I suspect that he is being reset on the game startup. Did you close out of the game at any point during the Le-Koro chapter?

Thanks for the feedback!

[TahnokTrapper]

14 hours ago, Keyblade87 said:

It seems there are a couple scene transitions that forgot to allow scrolling. I can fix that easily enough.

The lone matoran silhouette is Taipu, and you're right, he shouldn't be there. Both these problems are related to Taipu's status variable. I suspect that he is being reset on the game startup. Did you close out of the game at any point during the Le-Koro chapter?

Thanks for the feedback!

I'm not sure, I don't think I did.

[Ontocron]

7 hours ago, TahnokTrapper said:

I'm not sure, I don't think I did.

Ok, I was able to reproduce the problem you described. It seems that for some reason Taipu's state isn't being saved until after you collect the Flute. So, if you close the game between entering Le-Wahi and getting the flute, Taipu will be reset to partymode in certain scenes upon relaunching. I changed it so Taipu's state will start being saved as soon as you enter Le-Wahi, so in the next mod update hopefully that issue won't happen anymore.

[Toa of Mirrors]

Was this updated today? You know, I really worked hard on those upscaled beach SWFs last year, and then, like, months passed with no further response about them. And then this project gets quietly updated and the only indication that it happened was a surprise appearance on the Bionicle Day stream. I was hoping that if this ever got updated, the SWF edits I made last year would be included in the all-in-one release in some form or another. But if there was a problem with them, I figured I'd at least get told why they can't be put in. Instead, I got neither. The V.2-S.swf in V0_2 doesn't have the upscaled sand the V.2-S.swf I posted on this topic does. And I have no idea why my edits were not deemed fit for inclusion! I'm not trying to rant here -- I am happy this got updated -- I'm just trying to understand.

[Ontocron]

4 hours ago, Toa of Mirrors said:

Was this updated today? You know, I really worked hard on those upscaled beach SWFs last year, and then, like, months passed with no further response about them. And then this project gets quietly updated and the only indication that it happened was a surprise appearance on the Bionicle Day stream. I was hoping that if this ever got updated, the SWF edits I made last year would be included in the all-in-one release in some form or another. But if there was a problem with them, I figured I'd at least get told why they can't be put in. Instead, I got neither. The V.2-S.swf in V0_2 doesn't have the upscaled sand the V.2-S.swf I posted on this topic does. And I have no idea why my edits were not deemed fit for inclusion! I'm not trying to rant here -- I am happy this got updated -- I'm just trying to understand.

Yeah, the new update is online. I'm very sorry about the radio silence; I had planned on going back to look at the sand jpgs, but I wanted to prioritize the bugfixes and consistency edits, and I kind of ran out of time. Your edits are good, but I feel like there might need to be another pass on a couple that have slightly blurry sections, like 1.3-E.swf. In the past couple weeks I also started experimenting with bigjpg.com as well as zyro to see what's possible.

I hope to get a new update out with nicer sand images and more unique Matoran appearances eventually.

Edited August 10, 2023 by Ontocron

[Toa of Mirrors]

5 hours ago, Ontocron said:

Yeah, the new update is online. I'm very sorry about the radio silence; I had planned on going back to look at the sand jpgs, but I wanted to prioritize the bugfixes and consistency edits, and I kind of ran out of time. Your edits are good, but I feel like there might need to be another pass on a couple that have slightly blurry sections, like 1.3-E.swf. In the past couple weeks I also started experimenting with bigjpg.com as well as zyro to see what's possible.

I hope to get a new update out with nicer sand images and more unique Matoran appearances eventually.

Alright then. If you ever need more help with this project, I'll be here.

[davidvkimball]

On 8/9/2022 at 8:31 PM, Ontocron said:

Mata Nui Online Game Improvement Mod

or MNOGIM

MNOG is a well-made flash game that, thanks to its use of vector graphics, still looks great even two decades later. However, it does suffer from a few bugs, as well as from the compression once needed to send the non-vector graphics over dial-up internet. My goal with this project is to improve the experience of playing MNOG to be the best it can be.

 

Those at the BioMedia Project have provided versions of MNOG on their website that play at the appropriate 18 fps and save your progress as you play. I have used their original 2001 auto-saving version as a base.

 

High-Quality JPEG Replacement

MNOG makes use of many highly-compressed JPEG images. I have re-created nearly every image at the same resolution, but much higher quality. A few images didn’t have an obvious method for re-creation, such as the Ta-Wahi beach sand, so instead I either upscaled with various methods or cleaned up the jpeg artifacts to the best of my ability.

Bug Fixes

I have fixed a few bugs in the game, such as Maku teleporting to Po-Wahi, incorrectly overlapping layers, and typos.

General Changes

I have made a number of changes to improve the gameplay: The Telescope wouldn’t update because it looked for 2001 dates, now it updates as you progress through the game; Maku won’t arrive on the beach until you have visited Vakama; A guard will stop you from using the Ta-Onu Highway until after Ga-Koro; Added black bars to the sides of the screen to prevent widescreens from viewing non-playable area; Book of Chronicles can now scroll from bottom to top and vice-versa; Stopped the Ta-Koro gate from instantly slamming down in front of you when you click it; Disabled ability to cross lava when bridge is down & lowered bridge sprites; Villagers no longer tell you that Nokama has a mission for you until you have the chisel; You can now update Maku on Huki’s status; Added check so that Kapura will not be wandering the woods while also in your company.

Color Consistency

I've modified several Matoran colors, such as changing Matoran eye colors to be consistent with how they are shown in later animations, and a few instances of incorrectly colored parts.

Clone Replacement

I've changed the appearance of several otherwise identical Matoran to be a little more unique. Eventually I plan for almost all Matoran to have their own unique colors/appearance.

Full list of All-In-One changes can be found here.

 

How To Install

You’ll first need to install MNOG (Original 2001 Version) from BioMedia Project.

You can download the mod as an

All-In-One

or you can grab separate sections.

 

Install these separate sections in this order as desired:

1. Bug Fixes

2. High-Quality JPEG Replacement

3. General Changes + High-Quality JPEG Replacement

4. Color Consistency + General Changes + High-Quality JPEG Replacement

5. Clone Replacement + Color Consistency + General Changes + High-Quality JPEG Replacement

 

For the All-In-One:

Unzip 'MNOGIM All In One.zip' and copy the ‘Mata Nui Online Game’ folder to the same folder that holds your ‘Mata Nui Online Game.exe’ file. Overwrite all files it asks to overwrite. You are now ready to go.

 

For Bug Fixes:

Unzip the .zip file and copy the ‘Mata Nui Online Game’ folder to the same folder that holds you ‘Mata Nui Online Game.exe’ file. Overwrite all files it asks to overwrite.

 

For High-Quality JPEG Replacement:

Same as for Bug Fixes.

 

For General Changes + High-Quality JPEG Replacement:

Install High-Quality JPEG Replacement and then General Changes the same way as Bug Fixes.

 

For Color Consistency + General Changes + High-Quality JPEG Replacement:

Install High-Quality JPEG Replacement and then General Changes and then Color Consistency the same way as Bug Fixes.

 

For Clone Replacement + Color Consistency + General Changes + High-Quality JPEG Replacement:

Install High-Quality JPEG Replacement and then General Changes and then Color Consistency and then Clone Replacement the same way as Bug Fixes.

These changes look outstanding! Thank you for sharing.

[TahnokTrapper]

Excellent! The Taipu state now works fine and the additions of a second chance to bring him along and the cut scene with Tamaru and his Kewa are great! Can't wait for the new update.

[Lenny7092]

That’s amazing! You are making the game better! I always loved playing the game. I always question the bugs and set inaccuracies, but you are fixing them up. Great job! I’ll look forward to play the mod!  

Oh, and you gotta change “Tohunga” to “Matoran” because Lego was criticized for using the word “Tohunga”. Plus, there’s “Papu and Rangi”, which shouldn’t be used.

[CHTrilogy]

This mod surely makes for the definitive version of MNOG.

[TERIDAX941]

I downloaded the game and this mod, and it's a great improvement!

I did find one bug however, to progress the Po koro story you need to take the comet to Huki instead of Onewa and Huki says Onewa's lines lol

Not quite sure if this is a carryover from the original game or it somehow got mixed up in the improvement mod, but figured I'd let you know.

[Ontocron]

Thanks all!

On 9/4/2023 at 9:25 PM, TERIDAX941 said:

I downloaded the game and this mod, and it's a great improvement!

I did find one bug however, to progress the Po koro story you need to take the comet to Huki instead of Onewa and Huki says Onewa's lines lol

Not quite sure if this is a carryover from the original game or it somehow got mixed up in the improvement mod, but figured I'd let you know.

Interesting, I never noticed you could do that! That is carried over from the original, for some reason they copied Onewa's item-giving code into Huki. Maybe at one time they planned to give Huki some interaction with the Koli ball? However, it shouldn't prevent Onewa from receiving the ball.

Next update I'll disable that extra code.

[TERIDAX941]

1 hour ago, Ontocron said:

 However, it shouldn't prevent Onewa from receiving the ball.

Well actually it was because Onewa wouldn't take the ball that I ended up giving it to Huki lol

I did find the nui  jaga hive early accidentally so maybe it happened because I did stuff out of order?

[TahnokTrapper]

Hello there. I played through the game again, found some more bugs and typos (all of these are from later in the game):

1.) Dialogue/text-box hiccups:

- When I spoke to Whenua to ask if Taipu could join my company, I was surprised to see him talk as I didn't bring him along to Le-Koro, because I did!

What Whenua said was: “But Taipu has seemed wistful since he was denied a visit to Le-Koro, and his thoughts have been elsewhere.”

when he should've said: "But Taipu has spoken of nothing but you and adventure since his visit to Le-Koro, and so I feel it would be wrong to keep him here."

I initially rejected Taipu, then immediately brought him along and went through the Le-Koro quest with him present, so maybe the problem is the game doesn't register the player's decision.

- see pictures below: Kapura's textboxes when you start the Kini-Nui defense and when you first fall back seem to be switched (first picture is normal, second is after first defeat). I don't know if it's a carryover from the base version or not.

-

 

Typos:

- when talking to Onewa after you've started gathering Matoran but before you pick up Hafu, there is a slight typo, possibly a carryover: “It seems that dark times have fallen again across my village. Nui-jaga, and worse, are secretly massing in the deserts outside town.”

[Toa of Mirrors]

I hope I'm not necroing this topic by replying to it again after all this time, but I just wanted to let anyone who was interested know that the Zyro image upscaler I was previously using is dead now. Going forward, I'll be using the next-best free online AI upscaler, jpgHD. It came second in the same tests I ran Zyro on when I first did the upscales I posted here over a year ago, and it came in first in the tests I did today on the remaining available upscalers. I'd recommend it for anyone still working on this project looking for a free way to upscale MNOG's old, noisy SWF images.

Edited 19 hours ago by Toa of Mirrors
Spelling