Super Mario Brothers 2 (NES) to Doki Doki Panic

Before I start explaining this to everyone,  how I'm changing this ROM,  let me mention the reasoning.

I have heard a lot of people say "Why not just play Doki Doki Panic,  because it's just the same with different graphics."

That's not true.

Doki Doki panic had a lot of flaws which SMB 2 fixed.

In Doki Doki Panic you could not run,  and nothing was animated.   The waterfalls literally could cause seizures,  and many of the other sprites that WERE animated,   had 2 frames,  versus SMB2's version where they had around 8 (Or somewhere around there).  I am referring to the Albatross here in this case.

Doki Doki Panic you had to beat the game with ALL of the characters (Play through the game 4 times,  once with each character),  versus one character.

The Downside is,   when Doki Doki panic was turned into SMB2,  they changed music,  various other things like the gate,  and turning those cool masks into Mushrooms,  and various other graphics.

Now:  What I have changed sou far:

I've adjusted the whole story Via hex editing to match the story of Doki Doki Panic.   On the title screen sou far I have the magical book with Help above it,  and the monkey.

The character screen has been fully changed to the Doki Doki Panic characters,
Imajin's sprites are fully changed,
Characters DON'T shrink when at 1 health,
Shell turned to a mask,
Mushrooms to masks,
Health mushroom to a heart,
Subspace potion is now a lamp.
Characters on the contributor screen (at the end) have their Japanese names now,
Imajin's pic at the end fixed.

This brings me up to my problem:

The characters when shrunk are moved about 4-6 pixels into the ground (visually only),  because of the shrinking process.

I need to know where the character's location versus the ground when small is located at in Hex.

I also need to find out where the text (What values are what letters) is for the names of the enemies of the ending credits are.

Is there anyone interested in helping me in my project,  or have info that could help me?

I would be greatly appreciative of any help.

My E-mail is Kiokuffiib11@Hotmail.com

The character or sprite location is stored in the OAM attribute table. It's likely not going to be in the ROM at all and is instead a calculated value. It also won't be in reference to ground. It'll be a X/Y screen coordinate. You'll likely have to check some game code for writes to $2003 and $2004 and figure out where the new values come from.

As for letter values on enemy names and ending credits. Have you tried any relative search utilities? If the text is not compressed, that should work. If it is compressed, you might still have some luck trying words you think might be the beginning of the stream. Otherwise, you'll have to look at some game code.

On the jumping:

The $2000 on seems to control where you are on the map,  versus height.

But,  as for finding which trigger changes the value,  I have no clue how to go about this.

And I have tried to search with hex utilities,  but,  they don't seem to find it.
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What I'd like to do on the ending is change the names:
Mario = Imajin
Luigi = Mama
Toad = Papa
Princess = Lena
Ostro = Birdo
Birdo = Ostro
Clawglip = Clawgrip

And I've got loads of notes,  but the notes that seem most relevant is:

$0014 - Page of main character's X position [ 58 a9 01 20 a0 ff ad 33 05 ]
$001E - Page of main character's Y position [ d0 04 a9 09 d0 03 38 e9 01 09 c0]

$0028 - Fraction of main character's X position on page [ 85 ]

Defaults are in Braquettes.

Do you have any suggestions how to do this?

I use Hexecute for the hex editor,  and FCEUX for hex editing and viewing the Debugger in game

I'm not sure what that hex data you posted is, however if you know where the X/Y coordinates are stored in RAM, that's likely what's transferred to the OAM tables. That's half the battle. You'll still need to look at some game code to see how the value is modified when the character becomes small. To stop it from happening, you'll have to disable that code. It may be a simple subtraction or something like that. Or it could be something like setting a flag that causes an offset to be added or subtracted in. You may also need to worry about what happens when you get big again. The game will likely assume you have the 'small' coordinates and try to fix them again. So you may need to do something there. It really depends on what the game does.

Someone else can chime in here, but I don't think you can fully make this change without debugging or tracing some code. To do that you'll need to set some breakpoints on those RAM values or trace some code while the character becomes small. I can't give you much more specifics because I don't really work with NES debuggers. Work backwards. You know Y position is say $CB before you become small and then it's $C9 afterwards. Look at the code when this value in RAM is changed and see how it is done by looking at the instructions before it. Continue working backwards if necessary until you find the source of the change. Hopefully someone else can fill you in on what to do with FCEUX.

Have you tried any of these relative searching tools for the text?

http://www.romhacking.net/?category=6&Platform=&game=&author=&os=&level=&perpage=20&page=utilities&utilsearch=Go&title=&desc=

If not, you should. If you don't fully understand what relative searching is, you'll need to read up on it.
 
http://www.romhacking.net/docs/51/

I actually have.  I've even used Thingy's search by letter thing.   It says there's no matches for "wart" or "WART" although,
it's plainly in text in the game.

Also:

0x018B70 ~ 0x0192AF - Ending CAST (excluding WART),
is shown here,  but,  I can't find anything here

I do have to say the code in this game is quite frustrating,  but,  I've heard it's one of the more friendly ones.

I just took a quick look at the game with a Tile Editor and saw:



If the ending credits are using that font, then a relative search wont work since the letters are spread out. If you use FCEUXD SP then during the credits you should be able to open up the PPU Viewer, then hover over each letter to find the Hex Value of each tile.

YES!   BREAKTHROUGH!!!!

Thank you EVERYONE who helped me get the name table for the ending.



But,  for anyone wanting the name table for the ending,  here it is.

D0=A
D2=B
D4=C
D6=D
D8=E
DA=F
DC=G
DE=H
E0=I
E2=J
E4=K
E6=L
E8=M
EA=N
EC=O
EE=P
F0=Q
F2=R
F4=S
F6=T
F8=U
FA=V
FC=W
FE=X
CC=Y
CE=Z
CA=.

EDIT:   I've gone through the file with this new table,  and I still can't find the text.   I've rechecked it several times.

I'm sorry for being a pain sou much here.

For some reason it's STILL not showing up.

[018B70 ~ 0192AF - Ending CAST (excluding WART)

This is where I'm thinking the text is hidden.]

I just don't know why I can't find it.   If anyone would like the save file to look at the ending on their own,  please E-mail me.   I can send you a save file for the ending of the Emulator of your choice.

Did you graphically edit the font at all?  the font is stored in the image bank rather than the sprite bank. so that may effect it. but I don't know for sure.

It appears there's control codes (or assembly code) in between each letter:



I found WART at address 0192F7. Search for Hex Value: FC002CF9D00034F9F2003CF9F6

MARIO can be seen at address: 018B77 in the same spaced-out way.

Oh wow!    Thank you SOU much.   I would have NEVER Expected the letters to be spaced.  

I was looking up and down,  and just thought the search was not working right.


They really didn't want that edited did they?

Now I can fix the hero's names (I'm hoping Mario can be changed to Imajin (One extra letter)
And Clawglip to Clawgrip and the mix up with Birdo and Ostro.

Thank you SOU Much!!!!!!

EDIT:  Mario to Imajin worked!

And by the way,  thank you SOU much for showing me WindHex.   It's great for searching.

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On other notes,  I've been Still trying to find how to make the characters not go into the ground 4-6 sprites down when shrunk.

I've been even trying to follow the Debugger code backwards,  but the shrink code (06F9) has a BRK in it .   I also tried out some other things,  but to no avail.

I still can't figure out where it traces back to.

I've tried different things for hours on end and am frustrated at this.

If it will help you here is the info I've found that Semi corresponds.

$06F9 - Current Character (Appearance,not stats) (1st quarter of left Table)
......00 - Large Mario
......01 - Large Luigi
......02 - Large Princess
......03 - Large Toad
......04 - Small Mario
......05 - Small Luigi
......06 - Small Princess
......07 - Small Toad


0x01FE1E - Large Mario sprite
0x01FE1F - Small Mario sprite
0x01FE20 - Large Princess sprite
0x01FE21 - Small Princess sprite
0x01FE22 - Large Toad sprite
0x01FE23 - Small Toad sprite
0x01FE24 - Large Luigi sprite
0x01FE25 - Small Luigi sprite


$06F6 - Character growing or shrinking

$04C2 - Current life in the life meter
......0F - One heart
......1F - Two hearts
......2F - Three hearts
......3F - Four hearts

$04C3 - Number of bars in the life meter (for visual purposes only)
......FF - One bar (doesn't work very well)
......00 - Two bars (default)
......01 - Three bars
......02 - Four bars

0x007E7D - Pointer to tiles used for life bar
0x007E88 - Life bar properties (palette, mirroring, etc.)
0x007E93 - Space between each life bar

$E6A1:8D C2 04 STA $04C2 = #$1F ;Life will have 2 hearts
$E6A4:A9 00 LDA #$00 ;Store 00 into the following
$E6A6:8D C3 04 STA $04C3 = #$00 ;Bars in the life meter are reset to 2

$F71A:8D C2 04 STA $04C2 = #$00 ;Current Life in meter

$0014 - Page of main character's X position
$001E - Page of main character's Y position

$0028 - Fraction of main character's X position on page


Like I said,  it puts the graphics 4-6 pixels in the ground when you shrink.

Please help me on this!

Thank you for looking at this!

I changed:

01FE1F - Small Mario to 00 Large Mario
01FE25 - Small Luigi to  01 - Large Luigi
01FE21 - Small Princess to 02 - Large Princess
01FE23 - Small Toad to 03 - Large Toad

That's what keeps them large.

Please help!  I've been struggling with this for awhile.

Thank you!

any plans to make a Doki Doki converstion for the Super Mario All Stars version of Super Mario Bros 2?

Wow!  The rom is mostly unencrypted.   Really this wasn't what I was expecting.   I very well might,  but,  I'd need a little help.   I am fairly good with small pixel art,  but,  I'd have to get used to all the new colours,  but, I could probably do it.

I'd definitely need a few people helping me work on it.   But the NES rom comes first.

I need to get back on it,  I've not messed with it in the longest.   I was editing the star song,  and it's different,  both in size,  and I can't quite figure out how the music thing works.   Would you be able to help me on that?