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ROM Hacking Discussion / Re: I am looking for Sega Master System Compressors!

« on: August 31, 2019, 11:04:54 pm »

You need to debug the game to understand how the compression works and create your own code to decompress the data you want.
Two games may have the same format for the compressed data, but you'll need to debug anyway to find pointer tables, change routines and/or a lot of other stuff.
So even if you have a generic compressor that could work with some games, it means nothing to you if you don't know how to debug and change the game's code.
You can find a custom tool for some specific games, but in this case someone else did the job for you (it's fine if your goal is only to translate the text).
So focus in programming/debugging if you want to work with compression.

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Programming / Re: Best way to expand SEGA Gen/MD Rom (For translation patches)

« on: June 04, 2019, 10:21:30 pm »

Hi, you first need to understand the Genesis memory map. The Genesis maps the Rom on the first 4MB of memory. This is the best of the worlds, because the Rom addresses starts on 0x0. So, if your Rom has only 1MB, for example, it's because the developers saved some money using only one 1MB chip, instead of a more expensive 4MB chip.
So answering your question, you only need to increase the file size to 4MB to expand. But like the other guys said, you need to be aware of where the game maps the Sram. It's an implementation detail chosen by the developers, but affects the PCB, because the game's hardware needs to know when to access the data chip or the Sram in the cartridge. Most games maps the Sram to 20:0000-ffff. The PS4 also maps the save to 20:0000-ffff, so the developers made some kind of mapper in the cartridge using the !TIME pin because the Rom has 3MB and also uses the 20:0000-ffff for Rom data. But I think to do a translation you don't need to worry about that.

Adding a little info, the Lunar Expand was made because on the Snes the Rom is mapped in several parts of the memory map, so there are several places to put the Rom data, and depending on the Rom size some parts of the Rom will be mapped in different regions. So expanding is not so straightforward like the Genesis, that only maps on 00-3f:0000-ffff.

Another info, actually the Genesis maps the first 10MB to Rom data, and not only the first 4MB. You can use the 40-7f banks if you want, but no one used this region back on the day because this region is used by the Sega CD. So you can make an 8MB cartridge and it will work without a mapper, as long as the Sega CD is not connected. For emulators you can use this region, as long as the emulator implements this behaviour. Most emulators only cares about licensed games, so most emulators don't support this.
The last 2MB, banks 80-9f, you can also use for Rom, but seems that in this region the processes demands a manual manipulation of the DTACK pin, so is a little more work.

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News Submissions / Re: Translations: The Stories of Ihatovo translation patch released.

« on: January 02, 2019, 06:27:22 pm »

Amazing work! You guys made a great team. Keep going 

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Programming / Re: Hacking the Linux Kernel?

« on: September 25, 2018, 07:08:00 pm »

Which programming language do you think Linux should be programmed in?

I think he thinks that if the kernel were programed in a more "recent" language, like go, python, rust, etc, it would be more powerfull.

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Personal Projects / Re: Tales of Phantasia (SNES Enhancement) (On Hiatus)

« on: June 05, 2018, 06:39:59 pm »

6MB, the maximum supported SNES ROM size.
Although anything above 4MB required a non-standard cart PCB.

You have 11.9MB of Rom space in the address map, so you can have an 11.9MB rom if you want. You can have any size you want with a mapper (like MSU-1), but without mapping control in you game code you can have up to 11.9MB. Of course you'll need some nasty logic in the Pcb to distribute the rom data in the correct regions, but I'm talking by the code perspective.

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Personal Projects / Re: Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

« on: October 31, 2017, 09:57:01 pm »

The random encounter rate is normal compared to others Snes games, in my opinion. It's like Final Fantasy 6 (or less).
Nowadays this type of game is not so commom anymore, but games up to Playstation 2, like Dragon Quest 8, has an even higher encounter rate.
Remember, this is an 1995 game for Snes. You need to play it with a nostalgic feeling in your heart. Don't compare to recent games.
And don't compare with Chrono Trigger either. Chrono Trigger is an aberration. Chrono Trigger is a master piece among master pieces.

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Personal Projects / Re: Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

« on: October 25, 2017, 10:51:16 pm »

Byuu released a new higan version fixing the rtc. Now it's fully compatible with the TMZ translation:

https://gitlab.com/Talarubi/higan/uploads/3bf21e9398ea343ec47e45510ff9da9a/higan_v105tr1-windows.zip

More info:

https://twitter.com/byuu_san/status/923342853924970496
https://board.byuu.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1849

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Personal Projects / Re: Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

« on: October 21, 2017, 05:31:14 pm »

Congrats on the release! BTW: Are you planning to submit a news post?

Yes, Tom, do it! I think this way the translation will appears at the first page.

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Personal Projects / Re: Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

« on: October 21, 2017, 04:41:32 pm »

Is it really correct to update to the current system date?  Most devices that have an internal clock allow you to set the date to whatever you want, and then they keep time after that.  I think I should be able to set it to 2010 and have time track from there, for instance.

Ok, you could keep saved the date you entered the first time you played the game and just update the time by the offset since then, when you load the game again.
But you should consider the offset at least, otherwise the clock system looses sense. For example, if the last time you played was 01/10/2010 1:00pm, and you play again two weeks later at 2:00am, so the time should advance 2 weeks and be at 2:00am. But if you load the game 2 weeks later at 2:00am and the game is still at the time you last played then it's wrong.
October 21, 2017, 05:00:29 pm - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)Bsnes v087 seems to be working fine. It loads a previous Sram save and keeps the correct advanced time. The when you loads a emu savestate it also updates the date.

You can download bsnes v087 here:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/m96tadxtux08m1k/bsnes_v087-64bit.7z

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Personal Projects / Re: Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

« on: October 21, 2017, 04:24:10 pm »

The Snes9x_tmz is doing the correct thing. Even loading a save state updates the date to the current system date.

So for now you should use a Snes9x core emulator. Seems that Bsnes v087 is working, but we should see if when loading a emulator save state (not the sram save state) the date keeps updated. At least v105 loads the date at the moment you saved, that's not the desired behavior.

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Personal Projects / Re: Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

« on: October 21, 2017, 04:12:08 pm »

Higan v105 Rtc feature isn't working. After loading a save the date goes to 0-0-2000.

The problem happens when you load the Sram save. A commom save state restore the state correctly, but with the date at the moment you saved, so not what we want.

Even loading a save state should update the rtc to the current system time.

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Personal Projects / Re: Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

« on: October 21, 2017, 03:02:53 pm »

I can't make it run with any emulator, it says "all ok" reset, but nothing.
Tried snes9x_tmz, Tengai Makyou Zero (Japan).rtc
in every folder, nothing.

Nothing with bsnes-classic, it doesn't have folders atleast in root, maybe in some
obscure directory or something

Probably you are using an invalid rom. Try to patch again with the correct japanese rom.
October 21, 2017, 03:23:26 pm - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)Guys, here snes9x_tmz seems to be working to me. I save the game, close the emulator, open and reload the save again and the date is the same.

Edit: And the date is even being update to my system date, so it's working as intended here. Tom it didn't work for you? Seems that there is come king of bug. We need to find the trigger.

Here bsnes v086 isn't working. After loading a previous save the date is messed up. But seems that v087 changed some stuff regarding the Spc7110 and rtc, so probably it was fixed in v087. I'll try v105.

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Personal Projects / Re: Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

« on: October 21, 2017, 02:21:14 pm »

I'll try to fix RTC of this Snes9x I have here.

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Personal Projects / Re: Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

« on: October 21, 2017, 02:05:55 pm »

Here the cartridge is working fine. When I reload a previous saved game it shows the current time, as intended.

In the cartridge the Rtc is a independent chip that keeps turned on when you turn off the console (powered by the game's battery).
But in emulators I don't know how this works. The emulator shoud update the rtc file with the current system time when loading the game.

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Personal Projects / Re: Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

« on: October 21, 2017, 12:52:37 pm »

The translation is in: http://www.romhacking.net/translations/3243/

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Personal Projects / Re: Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

« on: October 20, 2017, 11:53:18 pm »

I remember trying to get your SNES9X hack to run a while back, DougRPG, but I could never get it to work on my system. It wouldn't even start up.

Try now. I think that time I only sent you the .exe, but you need the libpng too.
Please check if it's working in your system.

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Personal Projects / Re: Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

« on: October 20, 2017, 11:31:39 pm »

You could try this version I uploaded, but I just tested and the screenshot feature isn't working 
I think this libpng I used is not the right one.

I'll try to fix it.

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Personal Projects / Re: Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

« on: October 20, 2017, 11:04:23 pm »

Hi, I uploaded at mediafire the Snes9x version compatible with the translation. The link is:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/q8hqh0cdfwy48sd/snes9x_tmz.rar

Just load the exe and run the game like any other game. Should be compatible with the japanese rom too. You need this libpng12.dll in the same folder of the exe.

I also uploaded the files I changed in the Snes9x code. There are two folders, the "original" has the original files  , and the "translation" folder has the modified files. Just do a diff to see what I changed. It's a very simple patch. Fell free to do a better job, because I just did the minimum to load the game.
The file is:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/lxlf5dkj50mhlpq/CodeChangeTmz.rar

I think any emulator based on Snes9x core should have these files, so it's a simple patch.

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Personal Projects / Re: Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

« on: October 19, 2017, 10:35:48 pm »

Psst, if you really want to do more, you could figure out how to modify the  snes9x Retroarch core that people have running on the SNES Classic (I think it's snes9x 2010) so that people can play the translation on there. But that's just a nice to have, no pressure on that!

Yes, I'll try to run in Retroarch. I still need to recompile the Snes9x I have here.
But is this core running on the Snes Classic compatible with the japanese rom? If so, than any developer that can recompile the core can add the support.

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Personal Projects / Re: Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

« on: October 19, 2017, 09:58:19 pm »

Just sent Tom my readme contribution.
If there are no errors, then my participation in this translation is over. I'm kind of sad right now  .