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| Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - - Posts by rg_ |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8  Posts: 1/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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| In my opinion there are two major advantages that come from using design patterns in your code. The first one is that you don't have to think about how to implement certain things. If you know your design patterns well you will instantly know how to write code for certain situations. If you have to implement something like a directory structure for example you don't have to think about the general structure of your data first, unless there's something very non-standard about your directory structure you can instantly think "Composite pattern" and you know what to code. Even better is that all the common patterns are well-tested, well-documented and well-understood. If you write your own solution instead of choosing appropriate design patterns neither of these three advantages will be true at first. The second huge advantage is that you have names for quite complicated class structures adding an extra level of abstraction. When you write a GUI and want to explain it to someone like your co-worker or teacher or whoever you don't have to start giving huge explanations, possibly drawing diagrams how your classes interact with each other. Instead of saying "Well, I have these three classes here. One is for displaying the GUI elements, one keeps track of the underlying data and one is used to modify the data in a way that keeps the data consistent; here are pictures how they cooperate" you can just say, "three classes; standard MVC pattern" and the other person knows (or should know) how you structured your code. Also, don't worry about forgetting design patterns after going back to functional programming again. Even though OOP design patterns are probably the most popular ones there are design patterns for virtually all aspects of programming. After all a design pattern is not much more than a formalized way of programming something that has been proven to work very well over the years. I'm not an expert on functional programming but I'm sure if you hit Google you'll find design patterns for functional programming too. |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 2/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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| Visual C++ 2005 is by far the best way to develop C++ in Windows these days, at least if you don't mind .NET. http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/express/visualc/default.aspx | |||
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 3/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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Originally posted by ||bassThe 2005 beta versions of all MS languages (C++, C#, J#, VB.NET, SQL Server) have been free for about one year and will remain free for at least another 6 months (when the final versions are released).Originally posted by rg_Yea it probably is but if you read the topic you might notice the word FREE. Something VC++ is most definately not. In fact, as far as I know, it's the most expensive option possible. |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 4/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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| I think the most important thing for someone starting programming is to see results as quickly as possible to avoid getting frustrated because you think all that programming stuff is over your head. In the beginning I'd forget about all theory and just try to code a small Windows application. A Notepad clone is absolutely perfect for that. If you know what you're doing you can make a Notepad clone in 15 minutes with all common RAD tools (Delphi, C++ Builder, VB, the .NET languages) and even if you don't really know what you're doing I think you could get quite far just clicking your GUIs together. You would definitely get your "woah, that was cool" moments. When you're doing console C++ and wondering what the difference between a C string and a C++ string are these moments might exist too but they'll definitely not be as cool. Of all the RAD tools I've listed above C# 2005 (using Visual Studio) is by far the best in my opinion. It has exactly the right mix of ease and power unlike VB which leans towards the former and C++ which leans towards the latter. Visual C# 2005 Express Edition Beta 2 is available free of charge at http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/express/vcsharp/default.aspx |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 5/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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| Do you have no clue what the definition is or do you know the definition but don't understand it? If it's the former read up on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-oriented_programming If it's the latter ask more specific questions, there are entire books about that subject. |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 6/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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Originally posted by bbitmasterSince I'm "this guy" I want to reply to what you said. My comment that barely anything is possible wasn't about what you can achieve using FCEUXD, it's more about how easy it's to do certain things. I mean I've done a lot using "just" FCEUXD too so I know you can get results using it. I see it like the difference between a Turing machine and an AMD64. Both are equally powerful in theory, it's just that doing on a Turing machine what you can do on an AMD64 is like 54790 times harder and tedious. Maybe I'm misinterpreting this, but most of these are already there or useless. Lets go through some of them.I actually meant something else with that. When using symbolic debugging instructions like "JSR $8000" are replaced with "JSR Foo". I want an easy way to find out the original instruction because only using symbols doesn't work well, sometimes you just need the original address too. watches <- watches? You've got a hex editor to do all the watching you wantInsufficient argument. All decent debuggers allow you to see a memory dump but many nevertheless offer watches so having watches must have some advantage. I don't know what the objective reaons is but for me it's the easy access to a small number of values, without doing any scrolling or window-switching or just about anything but moving my eyes for a split-second. an option to auto-execute a command when a breakpoint is triggered <- what for? I can't think of any use for this. maybe he can? I don't know.This I can explain. While looking at Faxanadu I often need to set up screens in a certain way. For example I often want to change the sprites in a room when entering it. I set a write-breakpoint at $2D3, then I need to skip the next time this breakpoint is triggered because all sprites are reset first (value is overwritten with $FF) and when the breakpoint is hit the 2nd time I can change the value there manually. Skipping the 1st time the breakpoint was hit has been solved using conditional breakpoints. It would be nice if the entire process could be automated. Now especially for the simpler stuff there might be other ways (GameGenie?) but adding the possibility of automatically executed commands requires basically zero extra-work when the parser for better conditional breakpoints already exists as no extra parser for the commands is necessary. |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 7/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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| Even though I had actually planned to complete my disassembly of Faxanadu before releasing any files I don't have a lot of time in the next 6 - 8 weeks. Therefore I decided to release all stuff right now, maybe someone else finds it useful. Click here to get the files Files in the archive: *.html - HTML disassembly of important ROM banks *.bin - IDA Pro databases *.nl - Name list files for FCEUXD SP idc\*.idc - Various IDC scripts used while disassembling the Faxanadu ROM file memmap.txt - Notes about the RAM section of Faxanadu; Use only in combination with the newer initram.idc Especially interesting (code-wise) are the banks 5 (Sound), 11 (Sprites per Screen tables), 12 (NPC dialogs), 13 (NPC text strings), 14 (Collision detection; I was able to give names to 218 of 247 functions in this bank) and 15 (Last bank; lots of important stuff; I got 110 of 252 functions named). |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 8/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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| I've seen your Faxanadu facelift over at the TEKHacks board btw. I liked it a lot, especially how you replaced the health and mana bars. About my level editor. It's possible to edit rooms so far and I'm in the process of implementing edit functions for sprites. However I consider it frozen for the next 6 - 8 weeks for the same reason I need to take a break from completing my Faxanadu disassembly. I thought about releasing the source prematurely but I don't think it's in a presentable state yet. |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 9/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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| I was asked to write a decent readme file. I wouldn't call it decent yet but it's OK for now. If you notice any differences to the actual debugger it's (hopefully only) because the readme file is about the yet unreleased version 1.01. http://www.the-interweb.com/bdump/fceuxdsp/readme.txt Edit: I've added some more stuff. Improvements over v1.00 (June 30, 2005) - New: Significantly better conditional breakpoints - New: Multi-line comments are now allowed in symbolic debugging mode - New: Added the possibility to reload the *.nl files - New: Added the possibility to enable / disable symbolic debugging - New: Increased the number of visible lines in the disassembly window to 34. - New: Added disassembly bookmarks - Bugfix: Conditional breakpoints can now be removed again. Especially the conditional breakpoints became significantly better. Check the readme file for details. (edited by rg_ on 06-30-05 12:15 PM) |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 10/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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Hi, with the new version of FCEUXD SP the "hard part" just became much easier. Among other things the correct number of the NL file for a given address is now displayed in that mouse-over information area below the disassembly window. The important part is where it says "NL file: 0". That means the information for offset $9659 belongs into the name list file Romfile.nes.0.nl. Information about RAM offsets belong into the NL file of the bank loaded to $C000. I'll probably add an extra RAM NL file in the next version of FCEUXD SP though. I'd like to help you more but at first I need to know which version of SMB2 you use. I tried Super Mario Bros 2 (U) (PRG 1).nes and Super Mario Bros 2 (U) (PRG 0).nes but the data from the BMF site doesn't seem to match. Example: 0x01E276 - Time for the card before level is shown I set a read-breakpoint on this offset but it's never executed. I'd appreciate it if you could tell me what ROM you use and how to trigger that breakpoint. As soon as I know that I can be more helpful. |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 11/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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Originally posted by ShadowSonicYou might want to read up on copyright laws, specifically the Berne Convention of 1886. By now I think each and every Western country has copyright laws that grant the copyright automatically to the creator of something, registering your copyright somewhere is not necessary anymore although it's often still possible for legal reasons (it makes it easier to prove that you're the creator). I quote from here: "Under the Berne convention, copyrights for creative works generally are not granted, but rather automatically assumed; an author does not have to "register" or "apply for" a copyright. As soon as a work is "fixed", that is, written or recorded on some physical medium, its author is automatically entitled to all exclusive rights to the work and any derivative works unless and until the author explicitly disclaims them, or until the copyright expires." |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 12/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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| Here's a list of very, very good C++ books. Seriously, each and every of these books is awesome and in my opinion a must-read for all serious C++ developers. I've taken the liberty to order them from easiest to toughest (somehow, at least). Look them up on Amazon and ask if you have any questions. Herb Sutter, Andrei Alexandrescu | C++ Coding Standards | Addison-Wesley Nicolai M. Josuttis | The C++ Standard Library - A tutorial and reference | Addison-Wesley Scott Meyers | Effective C++ | Addison-Wesley Scott Meyers | More Effective C++ | Addison-Wesley Scott Meyers | Effective STL | Addison-Wesley Stephen C. Dewhurst | C++ Gotchas | Addison-Wesley Herb Sutter | Exceptional C++ | Addison-Wesley Herb Sutter | More Exceptional C++ | Addison-Wesley Herb Sutter | Exceptional C++ Style | Addison-Wesley Nicolai M. Josuttis, David Vandevoorde | C++ Templates - The complete guide | Addison-Wesley David Abrahams | C++ Template Metaprogramming | Addison-Wesley Andrei Alexandrescu | Modern C++ Design | MIT Press Also: With 2 weeks of experience you're not yet ready to advance to intermediate levels. In fact you're not anywhere close to understanding intermediate C++ concepts unless you're already a very good developer in another language. I suggest you start at the very top of that list. |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 13/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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| The easiest way would be to ask the original developers to add the extra functionality. This is what you should do. If that fails I have good news and bad news for you. Theoretically it's possible to do what you want. The problem is that you, however, won't be able to do it. Adding menus is easy with ResHacker or a comparable program. The problem is to add code that handles clicks on the new menus. This is not a trivial task, you probably need at least 12 - 18 months of solid Win32 assembler programming knowledge. But just in case you're a natural talent I've bothered to google for some essays that do comparable things (adding functionality to existing programs): Minesweeper: http://www.the-interweb.com/serendipity/index.php?/archives/2-Skinmine-Elaborating-on-Jeffrey-Richters-Trojan-DLL-method-for-API-hooking.html Notepad: http://web.textfiles.com/computers/hnpad.txt Adding functionality to the Windows Calculator: http://www.chirizzi.com/fravia/LAZCALC.HTM Notepad again: http://www.codebreakers-journal.com/viewarticle.php?id=28&layout=abstract General stuff: http://www.codebreakers-journal.com/viewarticle.php?id=26&layout=abstract Considerably easier than extending the program itself would be to send messages (the commands) to the program. Write another program that has some buttons and when those buttons are pressed a certain command is sent to the original program. This could be pretty easy. |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 14/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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| How can videos and music be copyrighted? It's just a single number on my hard drive. What about books I have in ebook format? Just a single number. Using your "argument" (I'm using the word argument liberally here) nothing that can be represented in digital form should be copyrightable. |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 15/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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| I'd like to see an advanced rom address repository. It would work like this: - People get an account (for accountability reasons) - There would be large lists of ROM/RAM addresses that could be annotated by the registered users - Other users can vote on the annotation to verify it (kinda like http://www.urbandictionary.com/ works) - If someone disputes an annotation he can add his own (then there are two or more annotations with the best-rated being #1) - I want the possibility to export the annotations to XML files, NL files (FCEUXD SP) or into other formats (XML would be enough though, as there's XSLT which can be used to turn XML files into any format) - Importing annotations from XML/NL files or just some kind of CSV file would be awesome too because people maybe dont want to enter hundreds of annotations by hand. Give the option to not add new annotations for addresses that are already annotated by someone else. - Add statistics about which user added most annotations and stuff like that. This always boosts participation. Yep, that's what I want. |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 16/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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| I've been toying with the idea of disassembling and annotating an entire NES game for a few weeks already. However I don't want to do it alone, that's why I make this post. I'm thinking about doing something like this first and after the annotation phase ended it should be possible to turn it into something like this which can be re-assembled. I'm not thinking about some kind of project that takes up a lot of time and dedication and participants have to be present and report frequently. I'm thinking of some kind of project where you document another function or two when you have a few minutes to waste and don't know what else to do with your time. The entire thing would probably take months to complete. I also don't plan to set up a project site or anything, a thread here on this board where everybody posts his findings should be enough. I do however plan to include all findings into a single IDA Pro file which I then export to HTML to make it available for everyone. Nevertheless I want the project to end one day. That means huge games should be avoided. My definition of huge is > 128 KB. Faxanadu is 256 KB and documenting it was *a lot* of work. In fact I've already thought of a game: Battle of Olympus. The game is 128 KB large, yet it should be large enough to find cool unused stuff in the ROM (at least I hope so; I found a ton of unused stuff in the Faxanadu ROM). Alternatives could be Duck Tales 1, Kid Icarus and maybe Castlevania 1 but I'm open for more ideas. I want to avoid games that have already been hacked to death (SMB, Zelda, ...). Benefits of participating include but are not limited to learning *a lot* of 6502 asm, eventually creating new ROM hacking tools (which would all be open source), learning new programming languages if new tools are created, learning everything about the game you ever need to hack it and most importantly I will think you're awesome. I appreciate any input. |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 17/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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Originally posted by HyperHacker You don't even need to execute all the code. While developing a small tool for someone on #rom-hacking I figured out that you can make "speed disassemblies" using FCEUXD and IDA Pro. You can quickly scroll down in the FCEUXD disassembly window and when you notice valid code (easy, as data interpreted as code doesn't lool like valid code at all) you can tell IDA Pro and IDA Pro can then disassemble the code from there. Using that technique I made an un-annotated (of course) disassembly of Zelda in 25 -30 minutes. I guess I separated more than 90% of all code from data that way. Getting to 100% shouldn't take too long either if you're already at 90% but I never tried that as a near-complete disassembly was nearly as good as a complete disassembly for the tool I made. Originally posted by danRight, thanks for pointing that out. I actually wanted to ask which games were already disassembled and if you guys have links to the disassembled code available. Edit: Thanks for the link dan. (edited by rg_ on 09-30-05 08:33 AM) |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 18/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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Originally posted by HyperHackerOh you young guys and your new-fangled programming languages. A pl file is of course a Prolog source file, even though Larry Wall might claim otherwise. I have a striking suspicion that XcomGS is talking about nl files though, the files that contain symbolic debugging information in FCEUXD SP files. |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 19/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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| I'm of the opinion that your solution the problem you stated is flawed at best and probably completely misguided. Even if I acknowledged the problem (which I don't) you're going at it in a completely wrong way. The first two of the five problems you mentioned (that's 40%) are spent on issues I consider irrelevant. I think you're hugely overestimating the issue of non-standardized terminology. First, ROM hacking is not an exact science and it's not like philosophy where you need to be extremely careful with terminology. When it comes to ROM hacking, context generally makes it obvious what the poster is talking about. Second, you generally don't get to make up terms for things you didn't invent. Furthermore forcing a new terminology on people who are used to call things differently will be a fKitten Yiffer, I guarantee that. I can assure you that I'm not going to change my habits and learn new vocabulary because a random internet poster wants that. And I bet nearly everyone is with me here, whether they admit it or not. I have no intention to comment on the next three problems because I'm not interested in any of them so let me come right to your "solution". Mammoth projects are generally hard to pull off because the complexity increases exponentially with the number of team members. It's hard enough to get projects like that done in the real software development world, on an internet board where basically everyone is 15 - 25 years old (and unpaid !) it's basically impossible. I have no hope for this project, although I wish it the best in case it ever starts. So what is the solution then? I think it's three-fold: - There needs to be a decent ROM hacking site, a centralized website for ROM hacking. a repository for hacks, docs, tools and data collections. No such site exists right now. There was a small discussion in #rom-hacking yesterday and some really good ideas were mentioned. If you want a collosal project maybe bring everyone together to write the PHP code. - Instead of giganto projects that never finish, the focus should be on small projects. Now I'm a tool developer, I've never actually made a ROM hack (although I'm planning one for the distant future) so my focus is on ROM hacking tools. For example few weeks/months ago someone complained in a thread about the limitations of the IPS format for SNES ROM patching and he suggested that someone makes a new format. There could have been a thread where people discussed this neo-IPS format and once the best ideas were agreed upon someone could have implemented it. That should take 1 - 2 weeks max and will definitely finish. And then we'd have a cool new tool for patching larger files. There was no such thread and nothing happened though. IPS is still difficult if not unsuitable for complex SNES patching. For actual ROM hacking I imagine that there could be some kind of IPS patch library. Want Mario to jump twice as high in your hack apply this IPS patch, want Bowser to shoot three flames instead of one apply another patch and so on. I'm thinking of an IPS standard library like the C standard library so that not everybody needs to reinvent the wheel every time. - Open source is the key. There are so many ROM hacking tools that are not open source and it really pains me. Open source tools benefit new programmers so much in my opinion, it's unbelievable. What are people afraid of? Don't want your code to be "stolen" ? I can guarantee everyone that his ROM editor code is not as awesome as he thinks and generally not steal-worthy. And even if it's stolen, so what? Or maybe some of you guys are afraid of peer review? Well, I've done open-source for 7 - 8 years now and I've never had anyone comment on my code (in neither a negative or positive fashion). It's most likely that nobody will ever be mean to you because he didn't like your code. Just have the guts and release it for the benefit of the ROM hacking community. |
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rg_ Goomba Level: 8 Posts: 20/26 EXP: 1964 For next: 223 Since: 03-27-05 Since last post: 21 hours Last activity: 12 hours |
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Originally posted by BGNG I actually didn't comment on this because I didn't want to bring more negativity in my post but if you me call on it I'll give my two cents. I consider Wikis to be inappropriate for this purpose. Now I'm a huge Wiki fan but (I think) originally Wikis were made to host some kind of e-encylopedias. Unfortunately people fail to recognize that and use them inappropriately for all kinds of purposes these days, I suspect because they're too lazy to put up a real website (I nearly fell into that trap myself once). After nothing happens for six months they wonder why their Wiki is a fKitten Yiffer. A ROM hacking community site is incredibly more complex than any Wiki out there, Wiki software won't cut it. In my experience, people who download pre-completed source projects tend to use them as a magic wand in their own works. Find a chunk of code that works? Incorporate it into your own projects and take credit for it.I have no problem with that. It is in fact exactly why I open-source all my stuff. I want to be able to help people who see and copy my code to their own projects. My Faxanadu level editor I'm working on is written in a way that makes it very easy to replace the Faxanadu stuff with data from other games because I thought one day someone might find it useful. This remark, backed with no observable evidence, only serves to be a degradation and insult to a concept that you have little or no faith in. You're directly attacking another member by discrediting his recomendation and stating his resolutions to be invalid. This is disrespectful and inapproperiate; your comment is not appreciated. "Discrediting his recommendation" and "statis his resolutions to be invalid"? I certainly hope so, I don't think your ideas are good. What did you want? Everybody to say yes and amen to your suggestions? I never attacked you personally, in fact I tried to help you by pointing out what I consider the problems in your "solution". I'm sorry that you can't take constructive criticism. Of course my remarks aren't backed by observable evidence, it's called an opinion. The latter half of that comment, your reluctance to "change your habits," is characteristic behavior of one who is unwilling to compromise certain aspects of lifestyle for the well-being of the greater community. Such behavior is the kind that is making the problem worse; not helping to alleviate it.Did you actually copy that from Mao's little red book? Sounds a bit too much like communism (and not in the cuddly, hippie college kid way but the Stalin stuff ) for my tastes. (See, that was really an attack on you on a personal level but in such a light-hearted and humorous way that I'm sure we can still be friends afterwards) You contradict yourself by commanding that someone else doesn't command others. That's hypocritical and majoratively ignorant. Others do not necessarily hold you in as high a regard as you might consider for yourself, so take into account that such actions may not be particularly effective. Refrain from asserting make-believe authority; doing so will promote cooperation between members.You're mistakenly of the opinion that I care whether people agree with me or not. I only post here for my general amusement and to offer my opinions (which I actually think to be quite useful). I've made no emotional investments into my posts in this thread (or in fact my entire activity in the ROM hacking scene) and if I'm all wrong and your ideas go through and you refuel the ROM hacking community with an awesome Wiki I won't hold an e-grudge against you or something because you "won" an e-argument against me once. (edited by rg_ on 10-05-05 01:18 PM) |
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| Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - - Posts by rg_ |
