Translations: Dynamic-Designs Releases Mystic Ark!

[heratio]

It looks like my SNES9x is working with the game, but I do not have 1.51, I have an older one.

[Kyuuen]

Doesn't work in SnesGT either, though I'm sure it's for the same exact reasons as bsnes so if it works on one later it will surely work on the other too.

Personally I'm just tired of zsnes's really old design, not to mention several games have visual anomalies (even if they are minor) that bsnes/snesgt/etc lack. The gui is better designed too and snesgt has a lot of filter options (I think it uses the same ones kgen does actually), etc. ZSNES is iconic, sure, but it's far below the bar on accurate coding (it uses a lot of special hacks in the code to run certain things, they've lessened the number of these with newer releases but not eliminated all of them), so it's probably not the best choice for beta testing patches.

Still! Good job on the patch anyway. I can hold off and play it later on when I can with my preferred emulator but it's still a great accomplishment no matter how you look at it. 

[Red Soul]

We certainly appreciate the feedback, Kyuuen. Its good to see an honest opinion filled with equilibrium. On our part, we will work hard to keep bringing great releases to the community
and do our best on all fronts - also giving special attention to accuracy from now on.
I can personally say I'm surrounded by excellent people and the results of that
will keep speaking for themselves.

[Draken]

It looks like I need to move outside my comfort zone and start using a different emulator for testing from now on   Which would you say is the most accurate? Bsnes?

[Killa B]

Which would you say is the most accurate? Bsnes?

Yeah, bsnes is the most accurate SNES emulator by far.

[Draken]

You're dead-on!  We used lots of misdirection to try and confuse people.

I call poor sportsmanship

Hah!  We weren't trying to mislead you!  Although, when you came over to the boards, we had to because it's such a public place, that we can't expose everything right out in the open.   In the beginning, the ruse was to throw off Sqeenix... I get a little paranoid (maybe it was unnecessary... Though, before this, they shut down several Chrono projects, and look at what happened with that Chrono game this summer) when game company's start closing down romhacking projects that involve their intellectual property, so I really wanted us to stay silent on the matter.  Afterwards, I was really unsure if we would ever get finished because we still had a huge block of text to translate, but no translator... I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up!  Later, we liked the idea of creating a big misdirection, so that we could REALLy surprise the public with our big release.  It seemed to work nicely 

[Spinner 8]

Nah, it was not a known issue. We discovered it when someone told us that the game didn't work on copiers and "accurate" emulators. I just code and never think that it would matter THAT much that it work on a copier or accurate emulator. Oh well... I guess some people are funny that way that they won't play the game unless it plays on an accurate emulator.

See, the way you've got to think about it is, what happens when ZSNES gets updated and now no emulator plays it right? Naturally this is based on the very hypothetical scenario that ZSNES will ever have another release, of course.

If you code a translation and intend it to be used on the actual hardware, you know it works. At that point, the fact that the game won't work on certain emulators becomes their problem, and not yours. :)

On a related note, when are you planning on fixing Gulliver Boy? ;)

[Bongo`]

Nah, it was not a known issue. We discovered it when someone told us that the game didn't work on copiers and "accurate" emulators. I just code and never think that it would matter THAT much that it work on a copier or accurate emulator. Oh well... I guess some people are funny that way that they won't play the game unless it plays on an accurate emulator.

See, the way you've got to think about it is, what happens when ZSNES gets updated and now no emulator plays it right? Naturally this is based on the very hypothetical scenario that ZSNES will ever have another release, of course.

If you code a translation and intend it to be used on the actual hardware, you know it works. At that point, the fact that the game won't work on certain emulators becomes their problem, and not yours.

On a related note, when are you planning on fixing Gulliver Boy?

I could possibly fix that game tonight if I tried.

[Gil Galad]

I've been playing Mystic Ark. I got past the first world with the cats and now to the strange water mellon town. A lot of fun, so far.

Usually I test my own hacks on Nintendulator, for NES/FC hacks. If the hacks work there, then I know there is a better chance that the game will work on the real hardware. So, I try to use supposed accurate emulators.

[Red Soul]

You'll find each world is so very diverse from the previous one that it creates entirely new experience.

[Deathlike2]

It makes one wonder how their hack/patch was tested. It almost sounds like Geiger's Snes9x (1.43) was used....

IIRC, Snes9x does have a legacy option in their config file for broken behavior (BlockInvalidVRAMAccess) that might help out (or perhaps was relied on inadvertently).

I'm surprised I missed all of this... heh.

[Draken]

It was tested mostly on zsnes, but some was also done on snes9x 1.43.  I had no idea about the vram issue until the patch was released.  Don't worry, though; a new patch that works on all other emulators will be out very soon.

[Gil Galad]

I'm up to black and white world now. Backtracking and sorting through books and silverware was a pain in kids world. In fact, I was stuck there a couple of times.

[juef]

Speaking of being stuck...

I've been playing the game on Zsnes 1.51, and everything looks great. However, while I'm aware this thread shouldn't be a walkthrough / faq of some sort, I'm beginning to wonder if I've come across a bug. I'm at the part where you need to enter a code to enter a mansion. I've got the code, but it doesn't work. A walkthrough on GameFAQs pretty much confirms that I've got the good code and I'm doing things right so far. I was wondering if this happened to anyone else.

I can provide a savestate / SRAM if necessary. Thanks! And BTW, congrats on the release, Dynamic-Designs! 

[heratio]

Did you go through the story points so the game understands that you did talk to the needed characters to get the password?  It probably won't let you in if you just went there and put in the number, you actually have to go to Einstein character and stuff and have him give you the number.

[Red Soul]

Heratio is correct there. In case you didn't speak to the correct NPCs prior to the code input, it won't work (the character won't really "know" the code unless you do that, even if you, the player, know).
We appreciate the feedback on the patch by the way, expect a revised version soon, and stay tuned to D-D's site for more exciting news and progress on our other projects.

[juef]

Einstein actually gave me the number.. Oh well, I guess I'll just go around the world talking to everyone again (this game seems to like this sort of quest )! Thanks to you both!

[Red Soul]

In case you're using cheats, make sure to disable them for any kind of code input or puzzle;
these can create potential loops in the game in these sorts of instances.

[realworksuks]

This weekend has been like the Superbowl of Romhacking and NDS releases.  So much stuff to play. XD

I know... I am so far behind in my games!

[Red Soul]

You can be sure that we will increase your backlog of great games yet to be played, in time.