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| Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - - Posts by DukeNukem007 |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 61/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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| Anyone know how to hack the background graphics from the game? They appear to be compressed, although it seemed that DeJap inserted some graphics that used the algorithm in a few places (like the title screen.) And anyone know how to hack the map areas? At times it seems like hacking would be ruining a perfect game, but in light of all the "10th anniversary Chrono Trigger" stuff the 10th anniversary of ToP is only 4 months away to the day, so I'm surprised I haven't seen much hacking besides translation and voice-dubbing. (BTW, the voice dub on Zophar crashes the rom, presumably because the data is stored in the wrong places. I could fix that, but the amount of time would be unbelievable due to the way the game stores short samples and swaps them on the fly rather than full voices, with the "flexible voice driver." And speaking of the FVD, it's why ToP and Star Ocean .spc sets have many songs that don't sound right; only the initial samples are stored. A thought for future music hacking in any game would be to implement the FVD and swap instruments in the middle of a few songs...) |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 62/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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| See the thread a few posts down about inserting other music into SMB1 (quite a feat since the ROM also had to be expanded and re-mapped.) I ought to see if I can insert VRC6/7 music into other ROMs sometime. |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 63/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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| I'll have to look closely at Ninja Gaiden Trilogy and see if the level format is close to the same...on another note, that game badly needs a facelift, as the graphics are barely improved from the NES games, although it's fairly straightforward as it's all uncompressed. (edited by DukeNukem007 on 08-19-05 03:07 PM) |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 64/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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| Anyone else interested in a hack of the game? I know that the graphics have a strange compressed format, but I've figured some of it out (I just changed the font, which was stored in 1bpp,) and I know that people a few months ago tried (and failed) to hack the compressed map format on it. And does anyone know how the game's .nsf format works? The music is nice, but if I were to make changes I'd replace the menu select music with that of the later games. There are some interesting differences between the Japan and USA versions...obviously, there's more intro data in the USA version and different (longer) dialogue, along with saves and passwords, but the doubling of ROM size (128 to 256k) leaves a load of leftover space. I'll see if I can map out the ROM some more if anyone else is interested in hacking things... |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 65/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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Originally posted by Keitaro It doesn't "miss" samples (except in Gradius 3 and Castlevania 4, the only games I know that compress samples beyond the basic bit-rate-reduction.) It does often give random "scratches" by reading other data as extra samples, and is a pain for games like Tales of Phantasia and Star Ocean that literally have 2000+ very short samples that the "flexible voice driver" swaps on the fly. You can change its sampling rate, as well. The DOS version of SNESSOR for reinserting samples sucks because it doesn't seem to be compatible with any shell, and the Windows version doesn't have a reinsert feature at all. I know the Temporal Flux hacking allowed for reinsertion of samples in Chrono Trigger and converted .wav files to bit-rate-reduced, but you'd then have to copy and paste them to the DKC rom. So far the only sound hacking I've experimented with is copying & pasting sounds with a hex editor and keeping the lengths the same. Every game does use mostly sequencing, but you can edit instruments and the Kong voices easier than almost any other game. |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 66/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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| How exactly is it accessed and why is it barely used at all? (Only games I know of would be Secret of Mana and Tales of Phantasia use it infrequently and Seiken Densetsu 3 use it a lot.) Does it automatically "double-size" tiles and sprites on screen like it seems to (I'd think SD3 would run friggin' slow if it weren't automatic.) You could get a lot more out of some games if it could be figured out more... |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 67/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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| Anyone know how to hack the game maps? From what I understand, basically only the graphics (about 2.5 of the 6 megabytes of the game) are compressed with the SDD1 chip, so reverse-engineering that isn't an issue (although I'm surprised there isn't a Lunar Compress/PeerSpriteView type package for it.) I get the feeling that the maps are stored similarly to Tales of Phantasia's, but I'll have to take a closer look... |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 68/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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Originally posted by Kawa-oneechan SFA2 also has a few background tile formations in the SDD1 banks. The chip really is impressive--it compresses at a level comparable to WinRAR, although from what I've heard on efforts to hack FEOEZ the SPC7110 is even more impressive, working at a 7-Zip level. Both of those levels of compression would run slow as hell straight off a 3.6 or 2.8 mhz SNES. Well, time to hack the ROM and see if I can get stats as well as maps... The 64 banks from $400000h to $600000h seem to include all the sound of the game (roughly 1.1 MB from ripping on SNESSOR)leaving about 0.9 MB for other stuff. Seems to be a lot of 65816 subroutines there...Wouldn't want to carelessly hex-ed either that or the first ~$3a000h of the rom. What's the block of data from $3a000h to $40000ish? Looks like some 16x16 tsa or pointer stuff, but I imported a few savestates from points in the game and got nothing special when I hacked it, nor crashed the rom. The bulk of the game script occurs around $240000h-$290000h (the DeJap team could provide you with much more specifics.) SDD1 data is a lot more scattered than I thought. |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 69/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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Originally posted by Disch I don't know, Battletoads did some AMAZING things with 256k PRG/no CHR and mostly compressed graphics, i.e. loads of tile swapping and faux-multiple backgrounds--there is no way the NES should've been able to play it fluidly. There is a decent amount of blank space in the MegaMan2 rom, but I agree that MM3/5 would be easier to hack (especially the latter...loads of free space in its 256k chr, except I think 256k chr is the maximum allowed size...MM3 is 256k PRG/128K CHR.) (edited by DukeNukem007 on 09-01-05 12:14 PM) |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 70/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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Originally posted by Disch Yeah, I haven't looked at the 6502 code but I'd guess that BT simply shifts words/bits/bytes over to get fake multiple-scrolling, which of couse the MM2 engine isn't programmed to. BT using CHR-ROM would actually be sort of inefficient because you have to store all 64 possible tile positions instead of shifting data manually...There are games like MM5 itself, and Bucky O'Hare (another nice game in terms of 'graphics gimmicks') that use fake multiple-scrolling, but those don't scroll diagonally so you'd only have to swap 4 or 8 tile slots. Of course none of this multiple-background stuff should be confused with how tile backgrounds can shift horizontally at different rates, which almost any NES mapper can do. In addition to the multiple-scrolling, swapping compressed sprites on the fly was ridiculous...there are a few PRG-only games that rapidly swap uncompressed tiles (MM6, DQ4) but nothing like that. |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 71/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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Originally posted by Edea $638C0-$67460 are most basic spell graphics and $69000-$6F000 are pretty much all summon graphics. The most likely reason you had trouble finding them even if you did look through the ROM is that the game uses almost all 3bpp (8 colors/tile,) which is pretty rare because it saves memory compared to 4bpp and 8bpp (even more rare) but doesn't offer much detail. Do you know how to hack the maps by any chance? (edited by DukeNukem007 on 09-01-05 09:55 PM) |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 72/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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Originally posted by FloBo *old bump* http://www.zophar.net/trans/download/topdub999.rar The patch almost immediately crashes "Tales of Phantasia (J) [T-Eng1.2_DeJap].smc," which I'd think would be the version of choice for anyone not ultra-fluent in Japanese. I'm surprised it doesn't just work in any version because I didn't think text patches moved the sounds around. I've opened the IPS in SNESSOR and it sounds poorly synthesized (I dislike voicedubs in general unless it's absolutely needed,) but it might help from the standpoint of hacking. Anyhoo...I'm going to start tearing the ROM apart myself and seeing if I can't find a way to hack the maps or motivate others to do so... 200-FC00 code FC00-10200 a few gfx 10200-21600 probably code 21600-22100 text tables? 57000-B3200 = various forms of junk. Are those tile formations near the start? B3200-1A4B10 = more alternation between compressed/uncompressed gfx 1A4B10-1A6000 = some header table? 1A6000-210200 = graphics both packed/unpacked 210200-280200 = mostly sound effects 280200-2E3000 = junk 2E3000-2F1600 = some gfx both compressed/unpacked + junk. 2F1600-300200 = junk 300200-30C000 = fonts and a little junk on the side... 30C000-310200 = junk... 310200-3F4000 = loads of sound data, with some other stuff (music/sound header data?) in between. 3F4000-3FAB00 = junk then some uncompressed gfx 3FAB00-400200 what IS this? looks like stripes in a tile editor. 400200-420000 mixture of uncompressed & compressed gfx 420000-427000 what IS this? 427000-4A1C00 lots of uncmpsd actor sprites and some (compressed?) junk 4A1C00-4BC000 some uncompressed gfx, what's the other junk? 4BC000-5F0180 = lots of compressed gfx and looks like some tiny sound segments 5F0180-eof = some gfx, both compressed & uncompressed |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 73/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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Originally posted by Edea Yeah, all graphics are uncompressed, mostly 3bpp with a few 4 and 2bpp, and should be easy to find in a tile editor. I messed around with the a0200-a6200 region and butchered the overworld palette and some graphics clipping in the underworld so you could walk through lava and couldnt fly some places, not to mention that the underworld has a grass battle background...pretty funny for semi-random byteswapping.   grr, I shoulda remembered that angelfire doesn't allow direct linking...but copy and paste the links or if you want an IPS patch PM me. (edited by DukeNukem007 on 09-01-05 11:13 PM) |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 74/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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Originally posted by Celice I can't quite figure out how it's stored yet, although it's not LZ-compressed and doesn't seem to be straight-up linear. Maybe some form of RLE...The $E8200-$ED000 region seems to have some similar looking data; but I butchered that data and it didn't seem to change any map data, only the palette. |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 75/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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Originally posted by Disch The SPC700 format is "bit rate reduction," a lossy compression with a constant 9:32 ratio. It's similar to ADPCM WAV formats, using 'grandularity' to compress as follows: http://www.snakeyes.org/docs/files/brr.txt SNESSOR (DOS version only, grr) sucks at it but can re-insert sounds, and there are a few other formats out there. Personally, all I've done is copied and pasted sounds between games. Also, there are two games I know of that use additional compression on sounds if you were to hack them--Gradius 3 and Castlevania 4. |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 76/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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| Looks nice...from what I've looked at of the ROM hacking the graphic shapes, while they are compressed (strange, since the 128k rom has l-o-a-d-s of free space and zips to about 37 kb) wouldn't be that hard to figure out, too; it uses an LZ format that eliminated a lot of repeating lines. I did some small graphics and text changes on another Compile game using the same format, Guardian Legend. | |||
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 77/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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| I prefer to just keep incremental .ips files, along with an original copy of the ROM. i.e. SMILE still crashes the rom if you edit some rooms the wrong way (i.e. Tourian,) so in my editing I keep the original "Super Metroid (JU) [!].smc" plus an .ips that doesn't crash and has updated work. | |||
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 78/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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| Nice docs---maybe I'll figure out how to optimize the Dragon Quest/Warrior 4 nsf (it has lots of graphics, etc. and shouldn't be 112 KB, but I can't figure out to change the headers) and see if I can figure out how to change songs, i.e. I want to replace the game selection songs in DQ 1 & 2 to the "Intermezzo" song from Dq3-8. | |||
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 79/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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| The Twin spell sucked anyway; most of the time one or both of them were dead before they finished preparing it. DarkWave really wasn't all that good either, even though it looked and sounded cool. I hope they do a decent job with it, although I already own the SNES FF2 legally and at least 2 versions of ROMs on my computers. Granted Tales of Phantasia was one of the most tech-heavy SNES games and FF4 was one of the lightest, but the GBA version of TOP was much weaker than the SNES version. Should be interesting to see if FF3j for the DS ever comes out, or even for the GBA; it's the only FF game that can't be legally played in English. |
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DukeNukem007 Shyguy Level: 13 Posts: 80/90 EXP: 9247 For next: 1020 Since: 07-08-05 From: Quahog, RI Since last post: 18 days Last activity: 12 hours |
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| Any idea why Front Mission: Gun Hazard and Wolfenstein refuse to rip SPCs properly? The .spcs sound like junk or nothing at all, regardless of which player you use. Granted, Wolfenstein for SNES is watered-down and sucks (although I love all Bobby Prince songs regardless,) but Gun Hazard is a superb game with great music and sound. (I still wonder if the infamous "hidden sample" actually appears in gameplay somewhere.) (Curiously, some .spc players also refuse to really play some tracks, like KuroNekoSPC produces one blip when you play most Enix games, Super Metroid or Hyperzone, and Meridian Advance causes DQ6 percussions to sound scratchy--I wonder why that is from a tech standpoint. I like KuroNekoSPC for recording .wavs as well, but it also sounds off-tune and the echoes are messed up on many games.) |
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| Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - - Posts by DukeNukem007 |
