Landstalker's terrible d-pad control

[Hiei-]

No, really, I don't think so

I don't think so either. Genesis/Megadrive D-Pad have "real" diagonals so it wasn't a problem at all.



Contrary to most other controllers which require you to hold two directions to input a diagonal.

Great job and thanks to M.I.J.E.T., although imagine my dismay, when I applied the patch and realized that the new controls were not mapped in the way that I expected or considered natural. So, I decided to hack the patch and get things fixed! In the new patch file, the controls are mapped like this: Up on the D-pad = ↗, Down = ↙, Left = ↖ & Right = ↘. Let me know if there are any issues or if the file is not available any more.

http://www.filedropper.com/landstalker-alternatecontrolscustomcontrols

Seems the most natural choice. Which choice M.I.DJ.E.T did?

By the way, your file is unavailable.

[MagicianLord]

Hey guys, I'm glad there is interest in my version! I have reuploaded the file http://www.filedropper.com/landstalker-alternatecontrolscustomcontrols, so please give it a try and let me know if there are any issues.

[baochan]

Thanks! Out of curiosity, what tools did you use to manipulate the IPS file and to know which values to move around? Some kind of disassembler I imagine?

[Hiei-]

Thanks

Here's a mirror link which will always be online without time limits : http://www.hiei-tf.fr/Landstalker_-_Alternate_Controls_Custom.ips

[SunGodPortal]

Thanks! Out of curiosity, what tools did you use to manipulate the IPS file and to know which values to move around? Some kind of disassembler I imagine?

IPS Peek and IPS Select are good for that. The first one views the changes made and where, the second let's you select which changes to apply when patching.

[VicVergil]

IPS Peek and IPS Select are good for that. The first one views the changes made and where, the second let's you select which changes to apply when patching.

Hex Workshop and WindHex also offer a file comparison function to compare the final patched file with the original one. As long as the internal file tree wasn't rebuilt (think stuff like GC/PSP/DS onwards) you can pinpoint exactly what changed. It's quite useful dare I say - I admit to getting Chinese-translated stuff just to know where the text/font is (well, corruption might be more useful for this purpose, but whatever).

[MagicianLord]

Thanks

Here's a mirror link which will always be online without time limits : http://www.hiei-tf.fr/Landstalker%20-%20Alternate%20Controls%20(Custom%20Controls).ips

Thanks for that Hiei, that should save me some trouble!

Thanks! Out of curiosity, what tools did you use to manipulate the IPS file and to know which values to move around? Some kind of disassembler I imagine?

You just need a hex reader/editor at the end of the day. I have not used the utilities that other people have mentioned but what I did was the following:

Created a copy of the Landstalker rom file and applied the patch to it. Then I used VBinDiff to compare the differences between the two roms. Once I knew which memory values were set by the patch, I opened the patched rom using Hxd and started to change them slightly in order to see the effect that change would have. This step involved a fair amount of trial and error. In the end and once I knew which values needed to be changed I just edited the existing patch to create a new one.

In general it took me half a day to get it working like I wanted, so it wasn't easy but it sure was fun!

[Gideon Zhi]

Apparently Ladystalker seems to have same controls as the original patch, so when I get around to playing it, I hope I'll be able to hack it if someone hasn't done so already!

Just did this. Was a fairly simple hack. I'll certainly be including the patch as an optional extra with the eventual release.

[Caiterz]

Ladystalker

eventual release.

Pls. :O

[MagicianLord]

Just did this. Was a fairly simple hack. I'll certainly be including the patch as an optional extra with the eventual release.

Excellent thanks! Look forward to it.

[cospefogo]

Bah!
Superb!

I have been searching for such hack for a long time!
Thanks, guys!
Really thanks!

Cospefogo.

[KML_85]

Does anyone still have MagicianLord patch, all the links are dead, sorry for necro

[vergil2012]

Does anyone still have MagicianLord patch, all the links are dead, sorry for necro

Try this one (from ''Hiei-''):
https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=20088.msg290594#msg290594

[Thirteen 1355]

Thanks

Here's a mirror link which will always be online without time limits : http://www.hiei-tf.fr/Landstalker_-_Alternate_Controls_Custom.ips

Sadly, when doing some quick inputs in the very first room of the game, it all garbles up.

[treos]

um...i completely forgot about this till i accidentally clicked a bookmark i had for this thread just now.

well...the, now 5+ years old, patch IS an improvement (kinda) but...not exactly what i was hoping for. i still feel this game could benefit from some 8-directional movement instead of just diagonal.

the addition of a shadow when jumping would also help but it's difficult to make accurate platforming jumps in a top-down or isometric game when movement is restricted to only 4 directions.

[DonPatchi]

Sadly, when doing some quick inputs in the very first room of the game, it all garbles up.

I didn't find any issue on KEGA Fusion and boy i spammed every button as fast a could for a good while.

um...i completely forgot about this till i accidentally clicked a bookmark i had for this thread just now.

well...the, now 5+ years old, patch IS an improvement (kinda) but...not exactly what i was hoping for. i still feel this game could benefit from some 8-directional movement instead of just diagonal.

the addition of a shadow when jumping would also help but it's difficult to make accurate platforming jumps in a top-down or isometric game when movement is restricted to only 4 directions.

This is a HUGE improvement.
8 directions would require to create a new sprite-sheet from scratch with 4 extra directions with every single animation necessary for them .
Like, be realistic. I can guarantee you that's not happening in this century.

Simple shadow is doable tough.

[ducknukam]

I didn't find any issue on KEGA Fusion and boy i spammed every button as fast a could for a good while.This is a HUGE improvement.

Same issue trying this patch with Genesis Plus GX and PicoDrive, simply doing up,down,up,down freezes the game, but I can confirm that Kega Fusion holds up well, as should the real hardware. Oh well...

[treos]

Like, be realistic. I can guarantee you that's not happening in this century.

Simple shadow is doable tough.

didn't realize my original request was that of the impossible. then again...it actually ISN'T. in fact, it's likely a far cry from a translation romhack and there's TONS of romhacks that change and/or add sprites and other stuff.

the truth is likely that it could be done...but no one really wants to do it.

edit: also, there's lots of old games that have diagonal movement but with 2-4 direction facing sprites. particularly snes games.

[FallenAngel2387]

I applied the patch once, thinking I'd need it, but I don't think I ever will.

I get it if you're trying to use a cross shaped D-pad, but as stated by others, a Sega circular D-pad takes little time to adjust to. Even with Emulation and PC gaming, I use Sega style D-pads(what can I say? I personally prefer face buttons to shoulders. Though the one I use has those as well, so...).

The controls certainly wouldn't have hampered the games sales one bit, as like I said, it takes little time to adjust to with the consoles actual D-pad. If anything hurt its sales, it'd be lack of name recognition(not sure if Shining would have helped or not at the time), and the fact that it was an adventure game on a console thats install base were typically more sports/action/arcade oriented. Even Zelda at the time was lucky if you could say it sold to about 10% of the consoles owners, nevermind something that didn't have a predecessor on a massively successful predecessor of a console that held 90% of the market.

Shadows wouldn't help one bit. You wouldn't see where it is over a gap, for starters. What would is a sort of... I don't know how to describe it, but like an arrow or something that highlights the squares directly in front of Nigel for upwards of 4-6 spaces(however far he ever has to jump across at any point in the game).