PIGGYBACKer 1.2.1

PIGGYBACKer v1.2.1 - CHANGELOG
================================

Release type: Compatibility and polish update
Previous release: v1.2.0

HIGHLIGHTS
----------

• Added a calibrated default riding offset for Gobbles.
• Riders now settle slightly lower when their mount enters a lying or sleeping

extended-idle animation instead of floating upward.

AMAZING EMOTE PACK + SIDEKICKer
-------------------------------
- Expanded recognized Amazing Emote Pack animations with:
- Red Carpet
- Get Griddy
- Forest Jig
- Floss
- Rat Dance
- Stargazing
- Default Dance
- Coming Soon
- Mounted sidekicks now copy the recognized emote animation used by their
owning mounted player.
- Emote recognition now reads the synchronized animation name rather than
relying on local controller input.
- Sidekick emotes preserve PIGGYBACKer's already-calculated mount position and
stack offsets instead of moving the sidekick to the player or ground.
- Kept the emote bridge inside PIGGYBACKer so SIDEKICKer's core animation and
movement systems do not need to be replaced.

RIDING OFFSETS AND VISUAL POLISH
--------------------------------

• Added Gobbles to the new-pose rider offset table.
• Gobbles uses Kirby's rearward placement with a slightly lower vertical

position: y = 0, forward = -24.
- Added lying-idle detection for vanilla sleeping/waking actions and compatible
custom animation names containing sleep, lying, or laying.

• During those animations, the rider smoothly targets a six-unit visual drop.
• The lying-idle correction is visual only. It does not change authoritative

gameplay, camera, network, collision, attack, or dismount coordinates.

COMPATIBILITY FILES
-------------------

• No external replacement-file payload changed for PIGGYBACKer v1.2.1.
• MMX compatibility remains targeted to MMX v1.2.14.
• Link compatibility remains targeted to Link: Hero of the Power Stars v1.2.2.
• Pikachu compatibility remains targeted to SSB Pikachu v1.1.
• The master compatibility package documentation now identifies PIGGYBACKer

v1.2.1 while preserving the known combined MarioFIGHTer/PIGGYBACKer files.
- Newer unrelated development versions of MMX and Metal Sonic & Knuckles were
not copied wholesale into the master package, avoiding accidental removal of
the deliberately merged compatibility logic.

RELEASE VALIDATION
------------------
- All maintained PIGGYBACKer main.lua copies are synchronized from the tested
Desktop game-install build.

• Lua 5.3 syntax validation passed.
• Release archives exclude backups, rollback files, and development artifacts.

PIGGYBACKer v1.2.0​

Major Features​

• The improved experimental riding animation is now the default riding pose.
• Renamed the original sitting animation option to Old Pose.
• Rebuilt the new pose around a rootless animation so riders remain synchronized with their mounts.
• Added mounted movement bobbing so riders subtly follow their mount’s animation rather than appearing completely rigid.
• Added reliable regular, custom-character, MMX-style, and Link-style mounted attacks.
• Added jumping and backflip dismount support to the new pose.
• Added support for mounted attacks while the mount is jumping or moving.
• Added mounted compatibility for The Amazing Emote Pack, including goomba-stack positioning.
• Added synchronized mount sound playback.
• Added a public PIGGYBACKer compatibility API for other independently released mods.

Camera, Positioning, and Synchronization​

• Reworked rider positioning to use synchronized player coordinates instead of unstable animation-root positions.
• Fixed rider cameras detaching, dropping underground, returning to spawn, or following obsolete mounting locations.
• Fixed dismounts sending riders to detached camera or original mounting positions.
• Fixed camera failures caused by custom model heights, unusual animations, spinballs, wall climbing, wall jumps, stairs, and extended idle animations.
• Fixed mounted players visually separating when the mount jumped, stopped moving, attacked, or changed animation.
• Fixed remote players seeing riders frozen at their original mounting point.
• Fixed host/joined-player asymmetry in rider positioning.
• Added controlled visual anchoring without moving the player’s authoritative gameplay position.
• Added camera recovery and collision handling for mounted local players.
• Fixed mounted MMX characters periodically warping or freezing during attacks.
• Fixed character-select changes leaving stale rider height, pose, or positioning data.
• Added safe cleanup of temporary pose, camera, and render overrides after dismounting.

Riding Pose and Offset Improvements​

• Recalibrated the new pose independently from the Old Pose so established Old Pose positioning remains unchanged.
• Restored per-character and per-mount riding offsets.
• Added or refined offsets for X, Zero, Alia, Axl, Vile, Waluigi, Bowser, Eggman, Kazuma Kiryu, Joryu, Taichi Suzuki, Kirby, Toad, Toadette, Pikachu, Mallow, Petey Piranha, Tubba Blubba, Neo Metal Sonic, Metal Sonic, Metal Knuckles, Boshi, Yoshi, Birdo, Koopalings, and numerous other character mods.
• Preserved X’s distinct offset from the other MMX characters.
• Added special pair handling for Kirby riding Kirby.
• Added special offsets for ordinary and MMX characters riding Kirby.
• Added special offsets for riders on Petey, Mallow, Eggman, Boshi, and Tubba Blubba.
• Added Tubba Blubba’s Bowser-style mount height and unique rider positioning.
• Added drift-aware offsets for higher goomba-stack layers.
• Fixed stacked riders overlapping while using the new pose.
• Fixed self-piggystacks floating excessively far apart by deriving layer spacing from seated character height and riding offsets.
• Added character-aware standing-height caching so mixed-size stacks remain consistent.

Mounted Attacks and Damage Protection​

• Fixed mounted attacks freezing after the first attack or combo.
• Fixed attacks requiring analog movement before they would activate.
• Added a short mounted attack grace period to preserve custom attack actions.
• Prevented ordinary rider attacks from repeatedly staggering or damaging their own mount.
• Added stack-aware PvP protection between directly connected riders and mounts.
• Added object-owner detection for custom projectiles and player interaction objects.
• Added native protection against Bowser Moveset fireballs burning the shooter’s own mount.
• Added native Metal Knuckles protection so punches do not hit his own mount.
• Blocked Metal Knuckles’ glide while mounted to prevent broken riding animations.
• Fixed Zero’s sword and other supported attacks damaging their own mount.
• Fixed X’s repeated jump-sound spam while firing from a mount.
• Preserved attacks and damage against unrelated players and enemies.

MMX Compatibility​

• Fixed MMX projectiles spawning inside piggybacking players and becoming stuck.
• Fixed projectile behavior differing depending on whether the host was the rider or mount.
• Fixed joined players seeing host projectiles stuck even when they appeared correct to the host.
• Fixed projectiles working only while another mounted MMX player was actively firing.
• Fixed X-specific projectile failures that affected other mounted MMX characters whenever X was involved.
• Fixed host X riding a joined MMX player causing remote projectile failures.
• Added synchronized mounted projectile origins and remote hitbox corrections.
• Fixed stale MMX projectile state persisting after dismounting, changing characters, or leaving a level.
• Improved mounted attack animation synchronization for X, Zero, Alia, Axl, and Vile.
• Added overlap guards so MMX attacks do not collide with the shooter’s own mount.

Sidekick Compatibility​

• Added a public sidekick anchor API so SIDEKICKer can place sidekicks without duplicating PIGGYBACKer’s internal positioning logic.
• Added stack-aware sidekick anchors for players participating in piggybacks.
• Added compatibility hooks allowing sidekicks to ride corresponding sidekicks rather than piling onto their own player.
• Added new-pose host and rider offsets to sidekick placement.
• Added mounted sidekick emote positioning support.
• Kept SIDEKICKer integration optional so both mods remain independently releasable.
• Avoided incorporating the separate MMX-sidekick door bug into PIGGYBACKer after it was isolated as a SIDEKICKer issue.

Mod Settings and Integration​

• Restricted Enable PIGGYBACKer, Disable Rider B Attacks, and Old Pose to host control.
• Synchronized host-controlled settings across the session.
• Preserved local storage for supported menu preferences.
• Added MarioFIGHTer integration so MarioFIGHTer can temporarily lock or disable piggybacking during incompatible match phases.
• Added compatibility checks for AFKer players when choosing mounting targets.
• Exposed APIs for enabled state, parent/child relationships, sidekick anchors, mount candidates, overlap protection, and MarioFIGHTer locking.

General Bug Fixes​

• Fixed Lua errors caused by reading invalid object owners.
• Fixed Lua errors involving immutable wall-normal fields during door transitions.
• Fixed Lua errors from missing MMX projectile fields such as <span>oSurfaceGraceTimer</span>.
• Fixed PIGGYBACKer preventing coins, caps, power-ups, doors, and level entrances from working while nobody was mounted.
• Fixed piggybacked players becoming softlocked or being launched erratically near doors.
• Fixed the pause menu becoming inaccessible after mounting-related errors.
• Fixed player hitboxes and interaction state remaining altered after dismounting.
• Improved validation and repair of broken parent/child mount links.
• Added protection against circular or stale stack relationships.
• Improved intentional dismount detection so normal jumps and transitions are not misinterpreted.
• Preserved stacking above a player when an intermediate rider detaches.
• Improved cleanup when a player disconnects, changes level, becomes inactive, or disables the mod.

Included Optional Compatibility Files​

MMX v1.2.14 Compatibility Patch​

Included replacements:

• <span>mmx_v1.2.14/a-global_vars.lua</span>
• <span>mmx_v1.2.14/c-0_hitbox.lua</span>
• <span>mmx_v1.2.14/f-packet_recieve.lua</span>
• <span>help.txt</span>

Provides mounted projectile-origin synchronization, remote hitbox fixes, and mount-overlap protection.

Link: Hero of the Power Stars v1.2.2 Compatibility Patch​

Included replacements:

• <span>[CS] Link HotPS/src/hooks.lua</span>
• <span>[CS] Link HotPS/src/utils.lua</span>
• <span>help.txt</span>

Prevents Link’s items, sword attacks, and shared damage logic from heavily damaging his own piggyback partner.

SSB Pikachu v1.1 Compatibility Patch​

Included replacement:

• <span>[CS] SSB Pikachu/src/hooks.lua</span>
• <span>help.txt</span>

Prevents Electro Ball, Thunder, and Pikachu’s custom electric attacks from damaging Pikachu’s own mount.

​

1.1 - Compatibility for SIDEKICKer, MMX and Link

- This update adds full integration for SIDEKICKer, allowing that mod's sidekicks to seamlessly piggyback other sidekicks when players ride each other

- Also added is full compatibility with MMX characters and Link, who previously could not use their projectiles and weapons while riding. Since this required direct modification to how MMX and LINK:HotPS handle things on their end, both mods come with their own compatibility .zips contained within Piggyback, along with the necessary file replacements that need to be made. Note that this is intended for the regular riding pose, not the experimental one (yet - future version will focus on addressing experimental riding pose issues more)

- some minor bug fixes