(Link to AcmlmWiki) Offline: thank ||bass
Register | Login
Views: 13,040,846
 Main | Memberlist | Active users | Calendar | Chat | Online users
Ranks | FAQ | ACS | Stats | Color Chart | Search | Photo album 		05-18-24 11:59 PM
Acmlm's Board - I3 Archive - - Posts by Trax
Pages: 1 2 3 4
User Post
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 08-28-06 03:48 PM, in Backup restored Link
I think it's a good thing that we only lost a few hours worth of posts...
It could have been much worse...
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 08-28-06 04:57 PM, in ZII Map Editor 1.0 - Released Link
Yeah, but DWEdit's takes care of towns and palaces also...

But, Shadic, be assured I understand what you mean. When I started NES hacking a few years ago, I was somewhat isolated because there was almost nothing available for Mac (Mac OS 9 at that time). While there were lots of editors for DOS/Windows, I had to do everything using a simple Hex Editor...

That said, I think there are plenty of talented Windows programmers out there, but it's true that Zelda II is not the most popular game, let alone the most popular Zelda game. I program in Objective-C, so anyone doing C (or any derivative) could translate my code relatively easily...

Arthus was working on Sword, but it seems like he suspended his work. He told me he couldn't find a way to load the tiles from the ROM. Many people tried to solve his problem, but to no avail. I tried too, but I'm not very familiar with Visual Basic...

I think he started a topic about this on the Programming section of the board...

If I can find the time to learn Windows programming in the future, I may try to make a port of my editor eventually...
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 08-29-06 06:38 PM, in ZII Map Editor 1.0 - Released Link
All right people...
New version, 1.11, is out !

I added a prompt that asks if you want to save, so you don't lose your work if you quit the prog (thanks to Raccoon Sam). I also added an option that lets you export the current region as a TIFF image file. The export doesn't include purple squares...

Download ZII Map Editor 1.11 here ...
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 08-30-06 05:33 PM, in ZII Map Editor 1.0 - Released Link
Have you found a way to relocate Palace 6 and Hidden Kasuto?

I did a little search when I was testing palace pointers, but I did not find anything good. I tried to replace the 6th palace's desert unit by another kind of terrain. The palace appears, but no chime. Nothing more. As for Kasuto, I did not search this way...

Okay, this is nice and all... *drums fingers* But seriously, will you be porting this to Linux, or do we poor Linux hackers have to be shafted yet again?

To be frank, I don't know Linux at all. So I guess if you want a Linux version, it'd be better to ask someone else for a port. I know it's disappointing, but I can't do much about it. I'm ready to share and explain my source code with anyone who does C. I used to wait for Mac ports in the past, with few results. So I decided to do it myself...

But why TIFF? PNG is many times better...

I'd say it's not necessarily better, but just for different use. PNG is made for sharing and has a very good compression ratio, indeed. TIFF is more adapted to printing purposes and resolution-independant display.

I use TIFF because it's a natural format for the Cocoa framework. Actually, I think it has no included support for PNG. Of course, I could integrate a PNG library. But ZII is not a picture processing software. Photoshop is. For a function that was made in less than 30 minutes, I think it's a good bonus feature. If you want a PNG, throw the file in Graphic Converter or Preview and do the conversion yourself...

Anyway, for the next versions, you can expect to be able to move key areas, maybe some more game data, and I'll begin coding a scrolling area editor...
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 08-31-06 02:36 AM, in ZII Map Editor 1.0 - Released Link
After some testing, I got these results :

Forest : the palace appears, no chime, but can't enter the palace...
Spider : the palace appears with a chime, can be entered, but if you get caught by a demon when stepping on the tile, you enter an action area (which is not normal)...

Then, I realized that Forest and Spider (besides Desert) are the two other terrains that transform to something else in some way. The Spider transforms into Desert when you blow the flute, and Forest transforms into Town when you cut it... Ah yeah, I just remembered that Rocks turn into Desert too...
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 08-31-06 10:25 PM, in Zelda II Information Link
As far as I know, the pause menu can be completely hacked. The magic names and values can be changed, and the rest is graphic hacking. If you think you changed something without any result, it's probably because you modified only one graphic bank. In each of the graphics banks in Zelda II (except bank 14, which is all blank, go figure), the last tiles are always the same, but you are likely to change all of them, because different banks are used for different situations. For example :

Bank 1 - Register Screen
Bank 2 - West Hyrule
Bank 3 - East Hyrule
Bank 4 - Towns in West Hyrule
Bank 5 - Palace 1
Bank 6 - Palace 2

And so on...
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 09-15-06 12:39 PM, in Zelda II Information Link
Alright, good job...
Now we can hack Leveling completely...
Will be added to DataCrystal soon...
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 09-16-06 12:34 AM, in Zelda II Information Link
Yeah, I implemented that part in ZII Game Editor, but I couldn't get my hand on the Level Screen numbers...

The amount of experience points needed to level up for Attack, Magic and Life can be found between 0x1669 and 0x1698 inclusively. Each value is made of 2 bytes, but those 2 bytes are not contiguous. The low byte is always 24 bytes further than the corresponding high byte...

Example from the original ROM :

0x166F = Attack Level 8 High Byte = 1F
0x1693 = Attack Level 8 Low Byte = 40

0x1F40 = 8000 in decimal

Taken from my own compilation
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 12-01-06 08:12 PM, in ZII Game Editor Link
Alright, people, after a few months, a new update : ZII Game Editor 1.12
I created a new thread only to make it clear about the real name of the app...

Nothing new about the overworld, but I added enemy data and Link's attack power. You can change Link's sword's damage for all 8 attack levels...

You can also change almost any enemy's HP, palette, steals experience or not, needs Fire or not, and the experience type when killed. You can also change the universal experience table. And I added a little convenience table to see how many hits are needed to kill the selected enemy, according to Link's attack power table (under the "Attack" tab) and the level (1 to 8)...

Many thanks to Ice Ranger, who added the data to DataCrystal. Yet, I'm still wondering how he found the data for the Rock Generator or Helmethead's floating helmets...

Here's a screenshot of the "Enemies" tab in ZII

Note that the 301 there really is an error in the original ROM. Try beating the 3rd palace's boss and look at your experience...

Any questions ? Ask me...



(edited by Trax on 12-01-06 09:49 PM)
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 12-01-06 10:44 PM, in ZII Game Editor Link
Sorry, TIFFs are natural in Mac OS X...
Just like PDFs...

You can retire your file, I "corrected" the error...
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 12-04-06 03:43 PM, in ZII Game Editor Link
I program in C and Objective-C, using the Cocoa framework. You can see what the Application Kit library looks like here...

I won't say Java sucks, because if it's well written, Java code can be very convenient. Yet, almost every Java experience I had in my life, either as user or programmer, was anywhere between "uncomfortable" to "total nightmare". I am now deeply traumatized...

Actually, the Java framework seems quite similar to Cocoa's, but it takes time to learn a new language, and right now, I prefer to spend my time doing something functional than to work on programming exercices...

You could also ask the 99% other programmers who work on Windows what they think about porting their code. I guess it's not so easy since Java programs are scarce around here, especially in a niche like ROM hacking. I guess that at some point, when my prog will grow more exhaustive, someone will be interested into converting the whole thing. Until then, many people stay satisfied with Dwedit's editor...

But as I said in other threads, if someone has some time to spare and is interested in Zelda II, I'll share my source code and answer any related questions. Here's a sample : 

- (void)setAttack

{

  const char *ptr = [rom bytes];

  ptr += 0x1E67D;

  

  int i;

  unsigned char v;

  for (i=0; i<8; i++) {

    

    v = *ptr++;

    [[matrixAttack cellWithTag:i] setIntValue:v];

    attack[i] = v;

    

  }

}

It is mostly standard C and some Objective-C methods that are connected to the GUI...
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 12-11-06 07:54 PM, in Yet another SMB hack - The Royal Quest Link
That's strange...
After I got down the flag pole at the end of stage 2-3, the game froze...
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 12-14-06 06:40 PM, in ZII Game Editor Link
Ya... It's a XP editor...

If you want a Windows version of my prog, right now there's essentially two ways : learn to program and do it yourself. Or ask Arthus, the author of the "Sword" project...
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 12-16-06 03:30 AM, in ZII Game Editor Link
No offence... My message was addressed to everyone...
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 12-18-06 05:15 PM, in Programming Experts directory Link
C / Objective-C
Cocoa
HTML / CSS
PHP / MySQL (basic)
OpenGL (basic)
6502 (basic)
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 12-18-06 05:41 PM, in I want some c/c++ practice projects. Link
Look for an explanation of how to calculate PI, and build a C function that logs the result...
It's quite basic after all, but you can pratice looping mechanisms (among other things)...

Try this page for PI explanation : http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibpi.html
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 12-20-06 07:16 PM, in Metroid Maridia Link
I played a little, but I got stuck where you're supposed to get Maru-Maru. The power-up is stuck in the ceiling, you can't get it, apparently. And without Maru-Maru, you can't get out...

Other than that, it's a good start...
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 12-21-06 11:24 PM, in ZII Game Editor Link
Okay, a new version is out. Nothing special, I fixed a fatal flaw that prevented the universal experience table to save correctly. I made the UI as simple as possible, and the overworld editor now displays all key areas correctly in the 3 regions. You can move the key areas, but you can't save them, yet. And there's no good solution for Palace 6 and Hidden Kasuto...

I'm about to start a scrolling area editor, but I feel like I don't have enough data to make it functional. I cracked most of the details related to general areas, like grass, forest, etc. But I'm still working on specific areas like caves. Towns and palaces are still a mystery for me. I could try to assemble something to get an idea, but it would be quite incomplete anyway...

My server is currently down for a ridiculous reason, so I attached the update file to this message...

Attachments

ziige113.zip (64531b) - views: 30
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 12-24-06 08:41 AM, in Approval Request Link
I've been doing ROM hacking for a few years...

I wanted to post into ROM Hacking to show a screenshot of my WIP Zelda II Black & White. But I couldn't, so that's why I ask for approval. It's not the ONLY reason why, but it's one of them. Heh...

I'm mostly interested in NES games right now, specially the Zelda series.
I use a Mac with Panther (X.3), I do C and Objective-C (Cocoa framework). I know not a lot of people can use my progs, but it's my way of contributing to the community, and I'm ready to share my source code to anyone who could be interested in doing a port, and to help others about general programming...

I did not finish any real hack yet, but I'm the author of ZII Game Editor, an editor for Zelda II, one of the few Mac editors out there. I did contribute to DataCrystal a few times. I started working on a NES Tile Editor, but nothing official for the moment...

I also have advanced knowledge of HTML, PHP and MySQL, and basic knowledge of OpenGL...

My english is not perfect, but I'm sure it's good enough for people to understand what I write...


(edited by Trax on 12-24-06 02:52 AM)
Trax

Red Tektite


 





Since: 05-01-06
From: Québec

Last post: 6299 days
Last view: 6299 days
Posted on 12-24-06 08:44 PM, in General Project Screenshot Thread Link
I'm currently working on a Black & White Zelda II...
Not finished yet...
I got the idea when trying to find palettes...

Corrupt & Try. Then I got a not-so-vomit-inducing palette that was a good B&W mix. I decided to extend it to every other palettes. It's actually quite hard to get something potable, since the grays are quite limited on the NES palette (well, actually the entire color palette is very limited itself)...

Anyways, nothing special, just like a graphics hack, but still gives the game a strange look. Like an old movie or something...

Oh, and I could leave Zelda's dress in red to make it like Shindler's List...

Attachments

Pages: 1 2 3 4
Acmlm's Board - I3 Archive - - Posts by Trax


ABII

Acmlmboard 1.92.999, 9/17/2006
©2000-2006 Acmlm, Emuz, Blades, Xkeeper

Page rendered in 0.021 seconds; used 438.97 kB (max 555.42 kB)