Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Randomizer Guide and Directory

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Site Contents:
Locations | Presets | Installation | Compendium | Development | Glossary

Welcome to the fan-made directory for the Symphony of the Night Randomizer! The Randomizer was developed by 3snow_p7im (Wild Mouse) and there is a whole system of tools, guides, and information about how we can fill out our experiences with it. This is a fan-made, personally funded site where we will be covering everything from starting out for our first randomizer play through all the way to competitive tournaments. 

We'll start out with the simple and easy stuff: Getting you off the ground and playing the randomizer. Fortunately we have a fantastic video created by Gods666thChild (https://twitch.tv/Gods666thchild ) that will help get you started. Please make sure you do everything in this video as he says it because some of this is very precise. I will be providing the links he mentions in the video in the paragraph below it so you don't have to go to YouTube to get those.

SOTN Randomizer Launcher: https://github.com/LuciaRolon/SotNRandomizerLauncher/releases
  - An all-in-one tool for installing, using, and updating the SOTN randomizer and all associated tools by SacredLucy
Bizhawk: https://tasvideos.org/Bizhawk/ReleaseHistory
  - Bizhawk developed by TASEmulators Team
SOTN Rando Tools: https://github.com/TalicZealot/SotnRandoTools/releases
  - SOTN Rando Tools developed by TalicZealot (https://www.twitch.tv/taliczealot, https://taliczealot.github.io/#/ )
SOTN Randomizer Main Site: https://sotn.io/ (Make sure to bookmark this one)
PPF Patcher: https://ppf.sotn.io/
  - SOTN Randomizer originally developed by 3snow_p7im (https://www.twitch.tv/3snow_p7im )
  - Currently being updated by eldri7ch, Mottzilla, and SacredLucy
Memory Card file with CLEAR: Clear File from Google Drive (No longer needed)

If you haven't, already, take some time to play a bit of the randomizer using what Gods666thChild has given us. Playing casually and finding things out the hard way is predominantly the intended way to play. Try generating an "O.G." seed and see if this is something you may enjoy doing.

If you want more information first or if you feel more advanced, then I have embedded a few guides that will help set you on your way. Starting with a guide on movement in SOTN by Dr4gonBlitz (YT: https://www.youtube.com/@dr4gonblitz, TTV: https://www.twitch.tv/dr4gonblitz ), this video will explain basic and advanced movement techniques we use in Symphony of the Night.

If you would like more information on movement and special moves in Symphony of the Night, there is a detailed video that explains much about these and there is accurate-to-platform frame data on the Castlevania Speedrun Wiki.

Below are some guides on the options for the randomizer along with a great introductory tutorial opening the world of the randomizer to us. Our friend DinnerDog (YT: https://www.youtube.com/@dinnerdog8384, TTV: https://www.twitch.tv/dinnerdog ) has provided this to help ease players in and make them comfortable with the randomizer and get those willing to compete ready for the last step. This is just an introduction video and not anything beyond the capabilities of the average player.

If you enjoyed that video, you can continue watching the entire introductory series on his YouTube Channel. Make sure to bookmark there because he has a 100, 200, and 300 series there where you can learn everything about the randomizer (and the game) that we know.

Now you might be thinking you want to branch out from "normal" presets like O.G., Casual, Safe, or Adventure. Maybe you want to try something exciting. Here we have a brief overview of some of the "alternative" presets. A complete list of every "normal" preset is available right here on our site. You can also check the Compendium for detailed videos and websites about various SOTN / Randomizer-related content.

Maybe you feel that you're ready to start racing. If you want to do that, check out the below video from DinnerDog to help get you started.

We also have several resources for movement, routing, and general information in our Compendium.

These are a few FAQ's we've seen about the randomizer. There is a #tech-support channel in the discord but many questions about setup and the randomizer itself can be answered in these FAQ's.

Q: Why can't you give me a copy of ________?

A: This site and community does not condone piracy or theft of any kind. It is up to each member to obtain legal copies of their PlayStation Hardware  or Game Discs. Please do not come to us for these items as we are not going to illegally distribute anything.

Q: Why won't the randomizer randomize my bin file?

A: The randomizer targets the original NTSC-U release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (SLUS-00067). If your bin has been altered (eg. has already been randomized or patched) or it is not a known, good rip of SLUS-00067, it will be rejected.

Q: Why aren't candles dropping items?

A: Just as in the vanilla game, you need Cube of Zoe for candles to drop items.

Q: Why can't I chain Gravity Boots jumps?

A: Just as in the vanilla game, you need Leap Stone in order to chain Gravity Boots jumps. Technically, you only need to be in a divekick airstate which can be achieved by untransforming from wolf or mist while airborne, or after performing an airborne thrust (back, forward, attack) with a 2-handed thrust sword (Claymore, Estoc, Flamberge, Zwei hander, or Obsidian sword).

Q: How do I disable music/sprite/item/whatever randomization?

A: Uncheck the checkbox next to Preset then uncheck whatever randomization options you prefer.

Q: Why are there missing items in my seed?

A: There is a hard limit to how many items an area may have. In order to randomize progression items (Holy glasses, Spike Breaker, Silver ring, Gold ring) to a new area, an item must be removed from that area. To prevent leaking information to the player as to which area has received progression items, between 1 and 3 items have been removed from some areas.

Q: What is the difference between the Casual and Safe presets?

A: Casual seeds have a lower average complexity (usually 5 or 6) than Safe seeds (usually 9 or 10). Therefore, on average, Casual seeds take less time to complete than Safe seeds. See the video regarding complexity for more information. We have a Presets Page which goes into the differences between many of the presets available.

Q: What is the difference between the Safe and Adventure presets?

A: Safe uses the Guarded location extension. Adventure uses the Equipment location extension. See the next question regarding location extensions for more information. We have a Presets Page which goes into the differences between many of the presets available.

Q: What are the various location extensions?

A: These options adjust the pool of possible relic locations. Classic locations are limited to the locations of the vanilla game. Guarded adds Crystal cloak (behind Scylla), Mormegil (behind Granfalloon), Ring of Arcana (behind Beezelbub), Dark Blade (behind Doppleganger 40), and Fake Trio. GuardedPlus adds Library Onyx (Forbidden Library) and Badelaire (Forbidden Library). Equipment adds the remaining locations that hold equipment. Our Locations Page will give more data on the various locations and their participation in various extensions.

Q: What about this other preset?

A: DinnerDog has videos covering a wide array of presets in his 100 series of videos. The randomizer community is constantly coming up with new presets and ways to play the randomizer so we may not have those up. With those videos and the Presets and Locations pages, it should be easier to tell which presets may appeal to you. Anything where DinnerDog doesn't have a video or it's not covered on one of our pages, you can ask the folks in the Long Library.

Q: Why does generating a seed take so long?

A: It's complicated. it depends on what your complexity is and it also depends on which platform you're using. If you are trying to generate a complexity 11 Safe or a complexity 14 Adventure, you're going to wait a very long time (Days) for an extremely linear experience. It's not actually worth your time. When it comes to the platform, the following applies:
• The best performance is for the tech savvy, achieved by running the randomize utility from command line (see our page on Installation).
• The next best option, which is the most common, is using Chrome, which is only slightly slower than command line.
• The slowest option tested is Firefox, which is often 10x slower than command line or Chrome.

Q: Is my seed broken/soft-locked/unbeatable?

A: First, be sure to check the spoilers to make sure you're not missing anything; randomize your game using the same seed, but with "Show spoilers", "Show relic locations", and "Show solutions" checked. Read through the relic locations and solutions before continuing. Keep in mind that if you generated with Tournament Mode enabled, re-generating like this will create a different seed. You won't be able to do this step.

Usually when people ask this, it's because they randomized a bad rip or a disc image that had previously been randomized. The best thing to do is to first compare your disc image hash to the hash on redump. If you don't know how to get the hash of your game, use this tool.

If you've checked the solutions and verified you're using a vanilla rip of the game, you might have found a bug. Please fill out the appropriate bug report template, or post your seed in the #randomizer channel in The Long Library.

Q: Do I need to know any glitches in order to complete a seed?

A: The only time you are expected to perform glitches in order to complete a seed is when using the "Glitch" preset. Aside from that, no glitches are required. You will need certain advanced movement techniques for certain seeds to be run optimally (Lycanthrope, Nimble).

Q: The infinite peanut/Spiked Ball drop isn't randomized. Is this on purpose?

A: Yes.

Q: Do I need to use SCHP-7003 like the video says?

A: No, but it is recommended that you use at least SCHP-5501. Try to avoid SCHP-1001. It's good to also have PS-30j and PS-30e but those probably don't matter for SOTN.

Q: Is it possible to randomize enemies / move enemies / randomize bosses / move bosses?

A: No, unfortunately. The way that SOTN is written as a BIN file, the enemies, their AI, their sprites, and their sounds are all sectioned into the various zones in which they exist in the vanilla game. That means that there are no sprites or sounds for Merman in the Marble Gallery. Any code trying to reference those will result in a game crash. Randomization of enemies in Symphony of the Night will require us to wait for the decomp project.

Q: Can the randomizer run on console?

A: Randomized disc images can be played on all consoles that run game backups. This includes hardmodded PlayStations and softmodded PS2s. The latter approach is more accessible and will be outlined in this guide.

Q: Which emulators can use the tracker?

A: The auto-tracker (SOTN Rando Tools) is only compatible with Bizhawk. It will not work with Duckstation, independent Mednafen emulators, or with ePSXe.