Landstalker's terrible d-pad control

[dejan07]

i have seen a lot of complaints on other forums about Landstalker's terrible d-pad controls and i am wondering if changing controls from diagonals to normal layout (like for example in the Ladystalker game) is a difficult task for hackers to accomplish.

If it is not i think this project could generate great interest with minimal amount of hacking because so many people are complaining about weird controls in that game and it is such a shame that this game is almost unplayable because of it especially since it is one of the best games on the Genesis.

It breaks my heart...

[tryphon]

I played this game back in the days and I don't remember the fact you use diagonals made the game unplayable (the Genesis d_pad was great). The main problem was to locate platforms when they were floating, and it's inherent to the isometric representation.

That said, I think it's doable for someone who knows a little asm, you have to trace calls to controllers ports to locate the routine that handles moves. You need to know a little asm though.

But how exactly should the controls be ? If you press 'up', you go up-left or up-right ?

[Hiei-]

Yeah, controls weren't bad. It just require a bit of learning, but I don't remember it being unplayable at all.

[PresidentLeever]

That's not what bothered me about the controls, it was the lack of a shadow when jumping and that you (inconsistently) hit walls to the sides when fighting in tight areas. So I would work on that and maybe some rebalancing in terms of gold drops from enemies and points of no return in the dungeons that lead to backtracking.

[Maeson]

they could get pretty annoying in your first playthrough (Which may be your last if you can't get over them), it's one of those kinds of controls that work when you're not thinking about them, but the moment you need to concentrate, you fuck up because how weird they are.

Which is sad because the game itself is pretty good and a classic of the Genesis (Although some of the latter places have some bullshit moments).

Besides the d-pad, the only bad part is the non-existent shadow, which I find vital for isometric games, as PresidentLeever comments...

[Gideon Zhi]

The d-pad controls are funky. You have to basically press the diagonals, which works on the Genesis pad but not on many others. Alternatively you can press up and down which take you up-right and down-left respectively, but in order to go up-left and down-right you have to START by pressing up or down, then move to be pressing left or right; you can't start by just pressing left or right. It's really bad.

[PresidentLeever]

Surprised to see anyone having problems with the diagonals since I played through it with a PS2 controller just a few years ago for the first time and it didn't take long to get used to. MD or SAT d-pads are better for it though.

[dejan07]

But how exactly should the controls be ? If you press 'up', you go up-left or up-right ?

In the sequel to Landstalker when you press up you go up-right. I am playing through Ladystalker on my Super Famicom and the controls are awesome but Lanstalker is unplayable for me.

I have contacted few hacker super stars from Aeon Genesis site but i got no response. As long as they are working on Far East of Eden Zero translation  i can forgive them. 

[dejan07]

I am happy to announce that the Landstalker's terrible d-pad controls have been fixed from diagonals to simple 4 direction layout just like in its sequel Ladystalker! This was done by M.I.J.E.T. after i asked him kindly if he could do this and he said yes!!!
What a great guy!

You can download the patch on his webpage:
http://mijet.eludevisibility.org/

Search Landstalker Alternate Controls Patch beta for the ips patch.

Again, thanks M.I.J.E.T.!

[Daria]

But how exactly should the controls be ? If you press 'up', you go up-left or up-right ?

I've been playing ZHP on PSP and the controls are set up like this. I keep getting disoriented and accidentally moving the wrong direction. Maybe I'm just special, but I don't find it very intuitive at all.

Like someone else mentioned the best "fix" for landstalker would be adding a shadow so you could properly gauge your jumps.

[dejan07]

Adding a shadow in the Landstalker would greatly improve the game and i would also like to change the sound effects for the most part.

All this could take some serious hacking so i am not even gonna ask the poor M.I.J.E.T. to do all this, he is busy with his own projects. AT least compare the original controls with the new one you will be surprised how improved they are now.

[tryphon]

I put this on my (already long) project list. With no insurance I'll do it

[dejan07]

Thanks for you input tryphon. If this continues like this we will soon be able to remake the whole game from the ground up. 

I am already super happy as it is and i am playing it for the first time for real because the game was unplayble for me before. It's a great game!

[tryphon]

I finished it back in the days, and yes, I've great memories about it.

[MagicianLord]

I am happy to announce that the Landstalker's terrible d-pad controls have been fixed from diagonals to simple 4 direction layout just like in its sequel Ladystalker! This was done by M.I.J.E.T. after i asked him kindly if he could do this and he said yes!!!
What a great guy!

You can download the patch on his webpage:
http://mijet.eludevisibility.org/

Search Landstalker Alternate Controls Patch beta for the ips patch.

Again, thanks M.I.J.E.T.!

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

[dejan07]

I am sorry to hear that you were disappointed but I have tried your patch and it is a good variation on the controls and now i cann't decide which one is better!

As long as there are no diagonals controls involved i am happy with it.

[Maeson]

Well, there is no "better control"...

With this type of game, usually there is an option to choose between both directions for a reason: Some people feel more comfortable with one more than the other.

I'll have both just because, lol.

[MagicianLord]

I am sorry to hear that you were disappointed but I have tried your patch and it is a good variation on the controls and now i cann't decide which one is better!

As long as there are no diagonals controls involved i am happy with it.

I'm happy you like my variation as well dejan07! I'm sure the terrible controls hurt the sales of what seems to be a very good game. 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! And of course there's Dark Savior afterwards...God knows what kind of controls they used for that one... 

[tryphon]

II'm sure the terrible controls hurt the sales of what seems to be a very good game.

No, really, I don't think so

[baochan]

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

MagicianLord, this sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. Any chance you could re-upload it?