This Sonic 3 A.I.R. mod provides more variation in music. This is done through the addition of "blended" final and prototype tones for different acts.
An example: by default, the first act of IceCap contains a combination of both final acts, while the second act has another combination of both prototype acts (I've just done my best to "remix" them together). This way there's final music for Act 1 and prototype music for Act 2 for Carnival Night Zone, IceCap Zone and Launch Base Zone (since they don't change a lot between acts and have prototype counterparts).
Additionally, there's different music for both Hidden Palace Zone and the Knuckles' fight, so the soundtrack is less repetitive.
And, don't worry, the mod adapts automatically if you are using the remastered OST.
All of these behaviours can be changed to the user's preferences, through the options screen.
The original soundtrack was converted from VGM, to have the highest quality possible. These are the VGM files for both final and prototype releases.
Remastered soundtrack was taken here: https://github.com/Eukaryot/sonic3air/tree/main/Oxygen/sonic3air/data/audio/remastered
There's a "little" thing that happened to the very first release of this mod.
Basically, since this version didn't contain any scripts at the time (I was planning something way simpler) I should have uploaded it to the "Audio Mods" section, NOT the "Audio Scripts" one. This is an obvious violation of GameBanana's rules, since this idiot (me!) didn't read the rules before uploading anything.
This forced the moderators to withhold the mod (not deleting it, but they lock it out for the rest of the users). They had all the reasons in the world to do this.
I shamefully asked what was going on and they kindly explained that I should have uploaded this mod to the audio section, not the scripts one. I geniunely felt so bad: it is like claiming you did work you didn't do.
Fast fowarding, when I upgraded the mod with scripts (so you can change stuff in the options), I uploaded the new version and requested the unlocking of the mod. I probably didn't receive a lot of public recognition and views at first, because when you upload a mod without getting it blocked immediately, you have a cool headstart to let the project have a chance of blowing up a bit. I deserve it.
So yeah, this is what I shouldn't have done and I still feel dumb for my actions. Read the rules, folks.
You aren't wrong.
I coded this mod while I was barely understanding C# code, so I was a rookie.
Sorry for hurting your eyes, I promise I know better now (like doing a switch statement, or, even better, array tables)!
Because I honestly don't really like the final tune (I was a little narcissistic back then, apologies).