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Main - ROM Hacking - Things that make you think "WHY???" New thread | New reply

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The Kins
Posted on 03-03-07 09:32 AM Link | Quote | ID: 9859


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Sometimes, for whatever reason, game developers do things in such a bizarre way you have to double-take, take a few steps back, blink, show it to a friend to make sure you're seeing what you are seeing, then shout "Why the fuck did you do it that way?"

To give an example, take the SNES port of Dungeon Master. According to mysterious computer people (Wikipedia), this version of the game stores it's graphics in a bizarre format - namely, Atari ST Bitmaps, bringing "cut and paste" to a new level. It uses the DSP2 chip to convert them to SNES bitplanes on the go, and is the only game to use that chip.

Please, someone tell me why using a (probably more expensive to manufacture) co-processor to convert graphics on the fly is a better method than, say, just converting the graphics to the SNES format. I'm honestly drawing a blank here.

Squash Monster
Posted on 03-03-07 10:25 AM Link | Quote | ID: 9885


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A lot of the really weird extra chips were included purely to make the carts a bitch to pirate.

Let's just hope that's what they had in mind.

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Acmlm
Posted on 03-03-07 10:26 AM Link | Quote | ID: 9886


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Flurry
#&postrank&
Unless the format they used happens to be smaller, that's pretty stupid


Another example (although not as bad) is all the unused space in SMB2 ... not just the leftover graphics from Doki Doki Panic, but those near empty ROM banks that could be merged into one ... the game could have been significantly smaller and then probably less expensive to make, but at least that makes it easier to hack without having to expand the ROM

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Kejardon
Posted on 03-03-07 10:40 AM Link | Quote | ID: 9892


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Super Metroid's demo-play code.
The normal controls are used, but a special get-key routine is used to load data from the rom. This isn't so bad.
However, there is also a catch in the get-key routine to run code for special case stuff. Keep in mind, this is only run when there are special-case enemies being run as well. As well as special-case code.
You might think this is just to make the timing easier. It's not.
The enemies, and Samus's reaction to them, are handled by the special-case get-key routines.

Kailieann
Posted on 03-03-07 03:54 PM Link | Quote | ID: 9925


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Dungeon Master using Atari graphics makes sense to me, seeing as it was originally made for the Atari, and I think it would be rather a pain in the ass to recode all the graphics to SNES format (a format that really isn't geared towards games like Dungeon Master to begin with) when they could simply use a chip that allows them to keep the original format.

Raccoon Sam
Posted on 03-03-07 04:12 PM Link | Quote | ID: 9938


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Wario's Woods music.
What the fuck did they think not using the SPC700 AT ALL?

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Kles
Posted on 03-03-07 07:32 PM Link | Quote | ID: 10011


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Posted by Raccoon Sam
Wario's Woods music.
What the fuck did they think not using the SPC700 AT ALL?


Hey, that music wasn't bad.

Tanks
Posted on 03-03-07 07:43 PM Link | Quote | ID: 10028


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SEGA and the 32X... why?

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Keitaro
Posted on 03-03-07 11:15 PM Link | Quote | ID: 10147


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Posted by Raccoon Sam
Wario's Woods music.
What the fuck did they think not using the SPC700 AT ALL?
They....didn't? What the hell DID they use. Some sort of cartridge-based on-board APU?

Sukasa
Posted on 03-03-07 11:59 PM Link | Quote | ID: 10157


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IIRC, there are two pins that connec to a SNES cartridge to allow the carts to esnd audio data through the SNES' audio circuit.

Now watch as someone homebrews a SNES CD player XD

Darkdata
Posted on 03-04-07 02:12 AM Link | Quote | ID: 10196


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Why is there so much free space in RUBY/Fire Red and the other advance generation Pokemon games. There is megabytes of the stuff

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Xenesis
Posted on 03-04-07 02:48 AM Link | Quote | ID: 10203


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Posted by Darkdata
Why is there so much free space in RUBY/Fire Red and the other advance generation Pokemon games. There is megabytes of the stuff


Well, one would assume that they had more data than could fit into a 4mb GBA chip, and hence decided that because they're using an 8mb chip they can spread it out? Or 16mb in Fire Red/Emerald's case.

Keitaro
Posted on 03-04-07 03:24 AM Link | Quote | ID: 10214


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There's a butlload of freespace in a lot of games, I noticed. it just...is ;\

Kernal
Posted on 03-04-07 03:27 AM Link | Quote | ID: 10216

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Except SMB1, of course.

Speaking of SMB1, I always wanted to know why having more than 3 objects occupying the same vertical space caused a whole bunch more objects in the vicinity to disappear.

Xkeeper
Posted on 03-04-07 09:14 AM Link | Quote | ID: 10364


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Do you mean disappear as in flickering, or fail to show up entirely?

There's a reason for both... the NES can only handle 8 sprites onscreen on any horizontal scanline (8x8 sprite, that is)...

...an dhaving more objects would likely cause some severe lag See also hammer-throwing Bowsers. The status line/music go to hell.

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I dealt with it.

BMF54123
Posted on 03-04-07 11:30 AM Link | Quote | ID: 10375


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He means background objects. You can't place more than three of them in the same column.

I had a whole post typed up detailing the various screwy things found in SMW, but then I clicked the wrong button and it erased EVERYTHING, so I'll just say that SMW is basically one giant "WTF?!"

(I guess if anyone wants specific examples, I can retype a few of them...)

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[citation needed]

Xkeeper
Posted on 03-04-07 11:31 AM Link | Quote | ID: 10376


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Posted by BMF54123
He means background objects. You can't place more than three of them in the same column.

...

(I guess if anyone wants specific examples, I can retype a few of them...)
Oh. I read vertical as horizontal. Silly me.

And, uh, hi!

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I dealt with it.

Ailure
Posted on 03-04-07 05:32 PM Link | Quote | ID: 10416

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Posted by Keitaro
Posted by Raccoon Sam
Wario's Woods music.
What the fuck did they think not using the SPC700 AT ALL?
They....didn't? What the hell DID they use. Some sort of cartridge-based on-board APU?
It does use the SPC, but in a unusual way. Kirby avalanche and some other puzzle games probably does it in the same way.

I think thoose games uses the main CPU for playing the music for some reason, it only sends the notes individually to the SPC. So SPC dumping is close to impossible. >>

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The Kins
Posted on 03-05-07 09:38 AM Link | Quote | ID: 10720


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Posted by BMF54123
He means background objects. You can't place more than three of them in the same column.

I had a whole post typed up detailing the various screwy things found in SMW, but then I clicked the wrong button and it erased EVERYTHING, so I'll just say that SMW is basically one giant "WTF?!"

(I guess if anyone wants specific examples, I can retype a few of them...)
Color me interested.

BMF54123
Posted on 03-05-07 09:52 AM Link | Quote | ID: 10723


Buzzy Beetle
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Keeping the music data in ROM rather than uploading it to the SPC700 probably saves a ton of RAM space, which can then be used for better-quality samples. It only has 64K, after all.

I can't imagine this method being terribly CPU-intensive, either, as the SPC700 is still doing all the decoding and playback work.

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[citation needed]
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