Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - General Emulation - GBA intros
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HyperLamer
Posts: 560/8210 |
Originally posted by LocalH
Originally posted by Colin
One more thing - HH, you must have missed the part where I suggested denoting if a game is cracked or had an intro added, like TOSEC does. That way, you could avoid the ROMs with intros. But you, or noone else has any right to condemn someone for wanting intros any more than I have to condemn you for not wanting intros. And you also missed the part about instructions to revert to 100% clean status.
Sure, not like it isn't a TOTAL PAIN IN THE RECTUM to even find a working ROM. I've only been searching for 8 hours, but I'm gonna keep looking for one without an intro. It's nice of you to include removal instructions, but they're still annoying. How about you include addition instructions instead?  IMO, intros = popup ads, and popup ads = pure concentrated evil.
Imajin
Posts: 260/452 |
If you think that we shouldnt condemn you for wanting intros, why do you condemn people who want large ROM collections?
(Ok, so that wasnt the best argument.) |
LocalH
Posts: 2/46 |
Originally posted by Colin
How is the GBA demo rom scene actually?  I know there was a lot of fuss about it when the specs got leaked and people got a hold of development tools, but I haven't heard much about it now...
Then again, hacking groups *also* released stand-alone versions of their demos on BBS' and the like.
Yeah, but the intros came first. Then, people liked the intros so they made them on their own and called them demos.
Like I said, I would include manual instructions to revert the ROM back to 100% clean status.
Also, I don't like trainers, with the widespread availability of patch devices such as the AR, which are more popular than ever. On the C64, trainers made sense because the average person didn't have a freezer cart. So I'd never modify the existing game code, only hook in to the start vector and put my code at the very end. I'd also wipe RAM before exiting my intro, to prevent any incompatibilities.
One more thing - HH, you must have missed the part where I suggested denoting if a game is cracked or had an intro added, like TOSEC does. That way, you could avoid the ROMs with intros. But you, or noone else has any right to condemn someone for wanting intros any more than I have to condemn you for not wanting intros. And you also missed the part about instructions to revert to 100% clean status.
I'd also be likely to distribute the clean ROM directly to people I respect, so that they would not have to deal with an intro in the least. But the lamers fucking DESERVE intros, in my opinion. If you don't care about anything but getting all the ROMs you can, never to play again, then you don't deserve a clean ROM.
Might sound elitist, sure. But with the amount of idiots out there, sometimes elitism if the best way. |
Colin
Posts: 1203/11302 |
How is the GBA demo rom scene actually? I know there was a lot of fuss about it when the specs got leaked and people got a hold of development tools, but I haven't heard much about it now...
Then again, hacking groups *also* released stand-alone versions of their demos on BBS' and the like. |
Imajin
Posts: 255/452 |
Personally, it seems to me that intros seem like a way groups are making people look at thier demos (or thy're logo).. Why not release a demo separately? |
Setzer
Posts: 40/532 |
Actually, I agree with Local Ache  Seriously, intros are abit annoying, but they're not that bad. It's not like you're paying for the roms, they're free, and you get what you pay for  go buy the damned carts. |
HyperLamer
Posts: 525/8210 |
Originally posted by LocalH
If it weren't for intros, there'd probably be no demo scene, period, or it would be a lot less mature.
Good thing none of you had any say over the C64 scene...I don't know why people are so averse to intros, hell I remember some of the old C64 intros better than the games they preceded! Half the time the intro was coded better than the game was =P
Don't take offense to this - I don't want to force anyone to like intros. But you can bet your ass that any ROM I ever release will have an intro (although I will also include instructions for manual removal and information on exactly what was modified). Basically, the way I look at it, if you're smart enough to remove it yourself, then you deserve to have an intro without a ROM. But, for 99% of the emulamers out there who only download ROMs to increase the size of their collection, then you can bet your ass I want their copy of my releases to have my intro on them. I wouldn't make it easy, you'd have to go in with a hex editor to purge the intro.
Sorry to bump this so long after it died, but this is something I feel very strongly about, and anytime the topic comes up I vocalize my beliefs. The C64 demo scene was borne of the cracking screen, and the intros added by crackers, and I feel it's due to the very fact that intros were standard that makes the C64 demo scene the biggest and best in the world, even to this day. I just don't understand why people have tolerated intros for as long as they have, and now all of a sudden I see most people in the console scene saying 'intros suck, bla bla bla'. I can sorta understand it with GBA games because I have a feeling it takes quite a bit less work to 'crack' the average GBA game than it did the average C64 game, but still, like I said, the emulamers who only want massive collections fucking DESERVE ROMs with intros. I'd like to see them properly identified, such as TOSEC handles it (by adding [cr {cracker}] to the filename). That way, those who want ROMs with intros (such as myself) and those who don't want ROMs with intros (such as most of you) can both have their way.
You must die. If you want to show off your 1337 special effects and programming tricks, make a ROM of your own for it. Don't clog up existing ROMs with them. All ROMs should be released exactly as they're dumped. |
DJ Bouche
Posts: 6/35 |
Hex Editor, first four bytes, "2E 00 00 EA".
if that doesn't work then it's an "evil" intro that you gotta ASM hack your way out of. |
Xkeeper
Posts: -4533/-863 |
Originally posted by LocalH
But you can bet your ass that any ROM I ever release will have an intro (although I will also include instructions for manual removal and information on exactly what was modified). Basically, the way I look at it, if you're smart enough to remove it yourself, then you deserve to have an intro without a ROM. But, for 99% of the emulamers out there who only download ROMs to increase the size of their collection, then you can bet your ass I want their copy of my releases to have my intro on them. I wouldn't make it easy, you'd have to go in with a hex editor to purge the intro.
If anyone ever included intros [I only hate them if they take a loooong time to finish themselves, since my comp runs GBA roms at a pathetic 60% [Wario Ware Inc.]... they should at least include how to remove them. That is probably the best way.
And the only thing Emulamers are good for is holding these ROMs for later download. Me... I have mabye 10 GBA ROMs, 9 of which I got off of an emu CD from a friend. I sometimes try them before I buy them [such as how I'm planning on getting Wario Ware, if I can find the damn thing]...
The main point: I don't mind intros if they're removable or such. Seeing as how the trainer for WWI that was on the ROM I got appears to glitch the final stages at times ... argh.  |
Colin
Posts: 1191/11302 |
Well if you download a clean dump, odds are you won't find an intro on it.
I think the C64 and Amiga scenes were different - the groups then were programming effects and such that were miles ahead of what was actually being produced for the system. |
Kefka
Posts: 1119/3392 |
Whoa! I usually don't get those on the roms I get off the net... |
MathOnNapkins
Posts: 156/2189 |
I don't consider myself an emulamer but I still don't want to see intros in roms I find on the net. For one thing, if I'm going to hack that ROM, that's just more shit for me have to look at. I always sort of looked at intros in roms as "showing off" and I don't really have any patience for that. Make a real game if you want to show off. |
LocalH
Posts: 1/46 |
If it weren't for intros, there'd probably be no demo scene, period, or it would be a lot less mature.
Good thing none of you had any say over the C64 scene...I don't know why people are so averse to intros, hell I remember some of the old C64 intros better than the games they preceded! Half the time the intro was coded better than the game was =P
Don't take offense to this - I don't want to force anyone to like intros. But you can bet your ass that any ROM I ever release will have an intro (although I will also include instructions for manual removal and information on exactly what was modified). Basically, the way I look at it, if you're smart enough to remove it yourself, then you deserve to have an intro without a ROM. But, for 99% of the emulamers out there who only download ROMs to increase the size of their collection, then you can bet your ass I want their copy of my releases to have my intro on them. I wouldn't make it easy, you'd have to go in with a hex editor to purge the intro.
Sorry to bump this so long after it died, but this is something I feel very strongly about, and anytime the topic comes up I vocalize my beliefs. The C64 demo scene was borne of the cracking screen, and the intros added by crackers, and I feel it's due to the very fact that intros were standard that makes the C64 demo scene the biggest and best in the world, even to this day. I just don't understand why people have tolerated intros for as long as they have, and now all of a sudden I see most people in the console scene saying 'intros suck, bla bla bla'. I can sorta understand it with GBA games because I have a feeling it takes quite a bit less work to 'crack' the average GBA game than it did the average C64 game, but still, like I said, the emulamers who only want massive collections fucking DESERVE ROMs with intros. I'd like to see them properly identified, such as TOSEC handles it (by adding [cr {cracker}] to the filename). That way, those who want ROMs with intros (such as myself) and those who don't want ROMs with intros (such as most of you) can both have their way. |
HyperLamer
Posts: 458/8210 |
Usually you can just change the first few opcodes which are hooked to jump to the intro code. Apparently though, a lot of them now are hooking a few instructions in instead, and killing the games a lot as a result. Intros are pure evil; when I find one I don't just kill the hook and be done with it. Oh no. I trace the f*cker and kill every last bit of it. Get your crap out of my ROM thanks. |
Colin
Posts: 1021/11302 |
That feature just recently got disabled in VBA - It's still in the menu but is greyed out.
No idea if/when it'll come back but there might have been problems with its effectiveness. |
Chickenlump
Posts: 183/722 |
I think VisualBoy Advance has an option to automatically disable them when you load a rom. Not remove them, but not show them, which was very nice. I don't remember if he took it out or not. I remember one guy posted in rom hacking on how to add one in. Heh...he got told seven days from sunday that nobody would help him, and those that added them in needed to be flogged. XD
Come to think about it...I havent seen him post since... |
Colin
Posts: 1012/11302 |
Do a search for GBA IPS patches... There are some which remove intros.
Or if you're downloading them and they have a GoodGBA name or something, just pick one that doesn't have a trainer. |
theclaw
Posts: 38/202 |
Is there a program that can get rid of them? You know, the ones put in by "release groups" like mode7. Example:  |
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