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Main - ROM Hacking - Zelda 3 ASM Hacks New thread | New reply


MathOnNapkins
Posted on 07-04-08 11:12 PM Link | Quote | ID: 86831


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http://math.arc-nova.org/woot2.zip

Bombs have been recoded from scratch (among other things) and thus are ready for testing, if anyone's interested. How do you test? Simple, you play through the Link to the Past as normal and report any problems. (e-mail to MathOnNapkins -At- gmail.com or posting here is fine).

For convenience I'll reprint the readme here:

Quick Q&A

Q: What is this?

A: It's an IPS patch for The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past (U) for the Super Nintendo. It showcases a handful of programming changes to the original game's code

Q: What do I need to use it?

A: You need a Zelda rom in its plain form, not compressed. Typically this is a .smc, .sfc, or .fig, though there could be other extensions I'm unaware of. For patching problems see "Any Known Issues?"

Q: Okay, what might these hacks be?

A:

-The largest change is that Link's bombs (but not the super bomb or the enemies bombs) have been recoded from scratch to use far less CPU time and actually have more functionality now. More on that below.

-Animated (gradient) magic bar that can be toggled on and off via the L button. Some types of transitions automatically turn it off, though. To leave it on all the time, use the PAR cheat code 7E009BE0

-The R button now saves your currently equipped item (if any) to a hidden "slot". If there was previously an item stored in that slot it will bring it out. In this way you can toggle between two items on the fly during gameplay. This also works on the item select screen.

-Link's Magic restores on its own now, at a fairly slow rate.

-The Book of Mudora, when equipped, will restore your magic at a much faster rate, at the cost of having no otherwise useful item equipped.

-The text system has been modified significantly to provide faster output with less delays overall. No more waiting eons just to scroll through a message you've seen a million times already.

-There is no longer a text message that pops up when you try to use an item without enough Magic Points.

-Various other hacks designed to speed up the game's processing so it uses less CPU time

-Lastly, there is another graphical effect but for the time being it is hidden, though you can activate it with a PAR cheat code 7E009BF0 (this will also keep the flashing magic bar hack on at all times). Use it in the desert palace or the desert for optimum effect.

Q: What's with the bombs?

A: The bombs used to be very time intensive for the game engine. It's doubtful anyone will notice this aspect of the hack. (More speed hacks are on the way). The bombs have the following new and changed features:

-Can be thrown in 8 directions now. Throwing on a diagonal requires holding of the Directional pad, however.

-A button picks up a bomb and also puts it down. Note there is no animation for this yet, it will be added soon.

-B button throws the bomb a distance approximately the same as in the original version.

-Y button throws a bomb about 30% farther than with the B button.

-Note that since these are being demoed, you have an infinite number of bombs (as long as you have one to begin with). Bombs also do not damage Link, though they will make him fly back. This is also for the purpose of testing, so you won't die while testing.

Q: Any known issues?

A:
-In BSNES (and the actual console) the flashing magic bar and the item menu do not mix. This is something that will be fixed in the future (because I'm going to totally redo the menu system ). If you're using BSNES just try to avoid leaving the flashing magic bar on.

-If the woot2.ips fails, try using woot2_noheader.ips. Some roms will have a header while others will not. I will not bore you with the gory details.

-Bombs will not sink when falling into water. They also have some issues in the outdoors regarding collision detection with hills. i.e. you cannot throw a bomb from up high down a hill. Easily verified from just outside Link's house. Bombs also do not deactivate when the item menu is down. That will be fixed soon. Pressing A and holding it after picking up a bomb causes Link to go kind of whacko and start running with a bomb in his hands. I'm not really sure how to address that just yet but rest assured it will be fixed.

-If you hear an unexpected beep sound, don't worry too much, that just means that the game missed a frame. It happens sometimes when lots of sprites are on screen or when other intensive operations are occuring.



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DiscoPeach
Posted on 07-05-08 01:16 AM Link | Quote | ID: 86840


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Most awesome!!! This will be great! When you finish polishing this as to make it bug-free, can one alter the ROM with this and then hack it, yet give you the corresponding credit?

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MathOnNapkins
Posted on 07-05-08 02:50 AM Link | Quote | ID: 86846


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That would be fine. But for the time being, performing a test run would really help me out.

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DiscoPeach
Posted on 07-05-08 03:32 AM Link | Quote | ID: 86850


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Alright! In my eyes Miyamoto is god just cuz Mario and Link came from his creative nuts. He jizzles gold. Whatever you need tested in Zelda, I'm your guy! What would you like to test?

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MathOnNapkins
Posted on 07-05-08 03:54 AM Link | Quote | ID: 86851


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Good question. I've been sort of nonspecific. Mainly my worst fear is something causing a crash. I'm of the opinion that nothing should cause a crash but that's why I'd like someone to test it out. If you look at the list of hacks a lot has changed, even though when playing the game it may not seem like it. Playing a full game from start to finish would be one surefire way to do it. Going in every room though is not necessary, of course.

If that takes too much time, just dick around with the bombs, trying anything you can think of to get them to crash the game or cause a glitch (other than the issues outlined in the readme). Since the bombs were coded from scratch, it's possible I missed something they're normally supposed to be able to do, but I think I have all the bases covered.

Hopefully that isn't too much to ask. Any help is appreciated.

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DiscoPeach
Posted on 07-05-08 04:27 AM (rev. 2 of 07-05-08 04:28 AM) Link | Quote | ID: 86854


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Well, for starters, you can try and see if you can work out the kinks for not having the animation of Link picking up the bomb. If the bomb is independent of enemy bombs, there shouldn't be much trouble there. If your code wasn't written over any other code I guess it's fine. It shouldn't fuck anything up. I'll try and test it on every hidden room, cuz that's what bombs are for. Also, if they appear normally as an item, and will always route back to it, perfect.

Also, test to see what happens it when you drop it in water. Do fish pop out? Also, test it on all the wishing wells where the item swap faeries are. Test it on the Dark World water circle where the catfish gives you the Quake Medallion, as that's an event triggered by throwin' somethin' in there.

What I recommend you do (if possible, to maximize testing) is remove the fact that it doesn't kill Link and that they're infinite. I want to see what happens when you run out and reach more, or what would happen with other things, etc. What do you think? That way it would be ultimately tested. It doesn't matter if I die, what's the save state for anyways?

Cuz I can probably play Zelda 3 completely in one day from sun to sun, cuz that game to me is the reason why I am alive today. I was born to game, born to hack, and born to program my own games. I spent father's day with the man who raised me... Mario Mario.

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MathOnNapkins
Posted on 07-05-08 06:11 AM Link | Quote | ID: 86859


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This code has not overwritten any existing code. If you want, I can reupload it so that the bombs are finite and they damage you, but I can test the results of that myself.

Posted by DiscoPeach
Also, test to see what happens it when you drop it in water. Do fish pop out? Also, test it on all the wishing wells where the item swap faeries are. Test it on the Dark World water circle where the catfish gives you the Quake Medallion, as that's an event triggered by throwin' somethin' in there.


Once I get them falling into water properly I will test these myself, no need to worry about it. Though thanks for the reminder as these are mostly things I hadn't thought of looking at.

Posted by DiscoPeach
Cuz I can probably play Zelda 3 completely in one day from sun to sun, cuz that game to me is the reason why I am alive today. I was born to game, born to hack, and born to program my own games. I spent father's day with the man who raised me... Mario Mario.


The record for playing the game is something like 1 hour 30 minutes. I doubt I'd even come close to that .

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DiscoPeach
Posted on 07-05-08 06:37 AM Link | Quote | ID: 86860


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Posted by MathOnNapkins
The record for playing the game is something like 1 hour 30 minutes. I doubt I'd even come close to that .


Yeah, I know what you mean

But I know this game in and out, to the point of saying: "a bee'll come outta that bush". It's alright. I saw a guy beat Super Mario 64 in 14-some minutes. I mean, BEAT it. Peach gives him the cake at the end (people bitched about the "coffee" from GTA: SA, but Mario went through hell, fire, and brimstone just for a "piece of cake"; probably because he'd be providing the frosting ).

Alright, gradeschool jokes aside, try and see if you can fix that falling into the water part, because that's like a MAJOR glitch if it were to come out wrong. Since items can go through objects (like walls and stuff), I don't think any glitch or crash at all would come from chucking them anywhere, being as Keese or other monsters drop shit in places you can't reach sometimes. If the bombs act like the stones, or bushes or whatever, I don't see a problem, being as the game allows for those types of objects to break when they strike something and they have a priority over any layer.

Anyways, as we all know from experience, no matter how many beta tests, glitches still appear (as we all see in people youtubing their way of entering "The Unicorn Fountain" (that SO sounds like an entry from Charlie, the Unicorn: "let's go to the Unicorn Fountain, Charlie! yeahhhhhh!")

Anywho, I don't think Zelda 3 would crash because of the bombs. Something else might crash it, like the other stuff you did. Especially if going in and out of places glitches a bit. What's more likely to happen is a map crashing and the game freezing going in and/or out of someplace, not because of a bomb.

I'd be more than happy to test it out completely to the best of my ability - but as a quasi finished product. Fix the water, make Link animated grabbing it, and then I have more opportunities to find bugs. More tinkering means more spaces for bugs to pop through

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MathOnNapkins
Posted on 07-05-08 10:22 AM Link | Quote | ID: 86869


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Posted by DiscoPeach
I don't think Zelda 3 would crash because of the bombs.


How to put this.... there's like a bazillion and one ways to crash a game when it's developed in assembly language. One wrong instruction can mean certain doom. I'm really surprised the majority of them shipped without significant bugs. Either sick coders or sick beta testing accomplished that (or both). During the development process I crashed the game countless times with pretty much every hack. It's only gotten to this point from me testing my own hacks extensively, but an extra pair of eyes is better for objective criticism.

Anyway, you got your water. I thought it was going to be more involved but it was actually fairly simple. Animation is coming soon, not sure how long that will take. When all the known issues are fixed I will reupload.

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DiscoPeach
Posted on 07-05-08 09:55 PM Link | Quote | ID: 86885


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Thanks! Forgive my sudden burst of ignorance. But you're right. Just because the nature of what you coded isn't meant to crash, doesn't mean it will. Thanks for listening to me so far. I'm glad I was able to give you at least some things to fix before it was even tested. You're lucky I have have real keen eyes to detail. A great game can either be made or killed because of detail.

Anyways, thanks for fixin' that up! When you reupload it I'd be more than happy to test it out for ya! I'm on vacation so I've got nothing else to do besides my hobbies! So bring it!

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Zedison
Posted on 07-09-08 12:13 AM Link | Quote | ID: 87103

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Just tried this. I like the speed improvements.
I noticed the strobing magic meter also strobes the green frames in the item menu and the rupee counter. The new bombs are kinda neat, but using A to drop them kind of runs against the way the rest of the game works, where A is used to throw things. I'd say a good control scheme would be A to throw bombs normally, Y to drop them, and B to throw them long-distance.
The knockback from the bombs is a little different. Seems like it might interfere with bomb jumping, but that needs more testing.

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Reshaper256
Posted on 07-09-08 05:05 AM Link | Quote | ID: 87133


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Posted by Zedison
The knockback from the bombs is a little different. Seems like it might interfere with bomb jumping, but that needs more testing.
You say that like disabling bomb jumping is a bad thing. Anyhow, I agree on the remapping of the buttons, since A is used for throwing everything else in the game. I'm sure players would quickly get used to your mapping though MON, assuming they had enough time with the bombs. My real concern is that without the unlimited supply, new players wouldn't get enough time with these bombs to easily learn how the new control scheme works. But I'm sure you could stick an informative bit of text in there to explain it all, when you first get the bombs.

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DiscoPeach
Posted on 07-10-08 12:05 AM Link | Quote | ID: 87181


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Being as it IS infinite for testing purposes, I assume it won't be infinite when it's finished for players. Infinite bombs sounds like a Game Genie trick and won't be fun in the hack (especially if you want it to be difficult).

Good observation on the button mapping. I haven't tested it yet, but you got the quirk found out already.

Honestly, I'm actually a bit busy to fully test this, which is why I wanted MathonNapkins to tweak it more a bit, so that I test it all at once, instead of having to restest any other thing he put in. But from what I can tell it'll be the bomb . (Sorry for the wicked pun).

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Zedison
Posted on 07-10-08 02:38 AM Link | Quote | ID: 87188

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Bomb jumping works, but the setup is a little different. Link doesn't lift off until a few frames after he gets hit, but he goes farther. You have to plant the bomb three tiles from the pit you want to jump over, then stand in front of it, in the middle of the second tile.

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