Chrono Trigger MSU-1 (with FMV's)

[Vector]

@qwertymodo thank you so much for putting this together. My wife and I are so excited to play through this game again on the SNES. So far, everything is just wonderful and your instructions were super easy to follow. Looking forward to seeing anything else you might provide. Thank you...thank you.

[Vector]

I've made it to Proto Dome. I'd like to participate in the full beta if possible. I just love what you've got so far. I haven't really had any problems. I've only had one area where the sound didn't play while I was fighting these enemies, but nothing other than that. This is in the church area 600AD(took pic of my screen) where you have to rescue Meryl or Queen Leene as the people think. I'm playing it on an SD2SNES cart (Blake Robinson Soundtrack) through an Analogue Super NT.

[IanDemar]

Okay, not sure if I am doing something wrong, or if the FMV intro isn't included? I thought it was included and it was just the rest of the FMVs that are limited to Beta users?

I've patched MSU1 audio into a bunch of games today, and they have all worked fine. I even got the added FMV for LttP to work. But here, it seems that I am patching audio, but no FMVs are added. I did replace the 0Kb chrono_msu.msu with the one that is 95+MB and added the chrono_msu-100.pcm (I think that is supposed to be the video?). My post-patch ROM file is named chrono_msu.sfc.  I did check its MD5 before patching and it is the correct version.

And yet still, no intro video. Also, I used the free alternative audio files, if that matters at all.

I'd like the rest of the FMVs, but unfortunately, I tend to play games for a little while and then start on something else, so I'm not sure I'll be any good as a beta tester. If I play to the point of the dome, I'll ask for access.

To summarize: Intro FMV isn't playing, Audio is. I'm using Snes9x newest version (downloaded 3 days ago) on Windows 10.

[Vector]

Okay, not sure if I am doing something wrong, or if the FMV intro isn't included? I thought it was included and it was just the rest of the FMVs that are limited to Beta users?

I've patched MSU1 audio into a bunch of games today, and they have all worked fine. I even got the added FMV for LttP to work. But here, it seems that I am patching audio, but no FMVs are added. I did replace the 0Kb chrono_msu.msu with the one that is 95+MB and added the chrono_msu-100.pcm (I think that is supposed to be the video?). My post-patch ROM file is named chrono_msu.sfc.  I did check its MD5 before patching and it is the correct version.

And yet still, no intro video. Also, I used the free alternative audio files, if that matters at all.

I'd like the rest of the FMVs, but unfortunately, I tend to play games for a little while and then start on something else, so I'm not sure I'll be any good as a beta tester. If I play to the point of the dome, I'll ask for access.

To summarize: Intro FMV isn't playing, Audio is. I'm using Snes9x newest version (downloaded 3 days ago) on Windows 10.

I downloaded the intro video from the original post separately and included it in my files when I did mine and included it on my SD card with the rest of the audio tracks. I believe the file was called chrono_msu-100.pcm. So you know, once you have that file on the card, the video does not play when you start a new game. It will simply play if you just don't do anything after you start the game up after a little bit.

[qwertymodo]

Sorry I haven't had much time to keep up on this and respond to people wanting to get into the beta.  However, the reason for this is that I've been making some pretty significant headway on the FMV dithering.  Still have a lot more work to do on it, but I basically have the functionality in place from end-to-end.  Here's the result of basically just running an entire video through the default settings on a single dithering algorithm (the final code should support 4 different algorithms with a handful of parameters that can all be tuned on a scene-by-scene basis, giving a lot of room for further quality improvement).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVhLfTTya5o
(On the left is the current version available for download, on the right is the new version)

Notable points of comparison:

• The fade out at 0:27
• The aspect ratio correction at 0:36
• The stone wall at 1:49
• The solid white background at 2:30

[ThegreatBen]

Glad to see you're still working on this.

[qwertymodo]

Yep, still working on it.  It's been slow going, mostly due to the massive amount of time that in-depth playtesting requires.  To that end, I've finally decided to make a change to the closed beta that I've been thinking about for awhile.  In addition to the playtesting requirement, the closed beta going forward will be limited to followers of my Twitch channel.  Having said that, I want to make a few things very clear.  First of all, following me on Twitch is completely free.  Following is not the same as subscribing, which is what costs money.  I am not now, nor will I ever be accepting money for this project, as not only would that be a complete dick move on my part, it would also paint a giant neon legal bullseye on my back that I have no interest in placing there.  Twitch has become a nice way for me to branch out a bit and turn what would normally be a very isolating, solitary passtime like single-player retro gaming, into a social experience where I can interact with people who have similar interests.  Sure, message boards like this provide some of that, but they lack the real-time interaction, and it's kind of separated from the actual enjoyment of the games.  Chatting with people while I play has made it a lot more fun, and a lot less work.  So, if you want to join the beta, head on over to https://twitch.tv/qwertymodo, catch a stream, hang out in chat for a bit if you want, and follow the channel.

If you don't have a Twitch account and don't want to make one, that's fine.  Part of deciding to make this change is the fact that I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel for this project, so hopefully I'll actually finish it up soon, and the final release will be released publicly, without any of these restrictions (though I may give my beta testers early access to the release before it goes public).  The patch file, including any updates or bugfixes, will continue to be freely available here, and I'll continue to post project updates as well.  This isn't some kind of sellout stunt, I'm just looking for ways to make the normally anti-social parts of this hobby less so.

[GyaragaX]

I dig it. You've seen me around in chat. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

[DrowningRabbit]

I have an odd problem, using 1.9 SD2SNES firmware, I have everything working for Chrono Trigger to use the right music ( Purchased from Amazon and encoded using the tooling specified here ) and I find that my game will not save. I've gotten to the future for the first time 3 times over and can't just assume it's working before trying other stuff anymore.

Anyone know of a simple solution for this?

EDIT: Upon looking up the newer firmware for the SD2SNES, I noticed in the FAQ there is a question about MSU-1 games not saving. I apparently need to soft reset for the save to go through. I kept turning the game off when I was done.

[Queue]

I'm jamming MSU-1 support into ZSNES, and while I'm focused on the music streaming, I seem to have gotten the data streaming working. The bad news is, likely due to a timing flaw on ZSNES's part, this Chrono Trigger video implementation is coming out partly wrong every other frame; example:

and interestingly, in a different way than the prototype I think your video playback is based on:

Yours also seems to hang after the video finishes, while the prototype doesn't, but I didn't look into that yet; I've only implemented MSU-1 v1 and not v2 with its audio resume stuff, so maybe there's some aspect of v2 you're using that I'm not emulating yet. The audio stays in sync with the junked up video though, so that's nice at least.

Other MSU-1 videos I've tested have worked, namely Super Road Blaster (though that one has an SRAM saving issue in ZSNES, I assume due to an incorrect memory mapping), and the Sonic CD intro demo.

Not sure if you care at all given that it's ZSNES, but just a heads up. I wouldn't have brought it up if it weren't that other MSU-1 video streaming ROMs work.

[qwertymodo]

I'm jamming MSU-1 support into ZSNES

v2 only added music resume, nothing to do with the video.  ZSNES is known to have completely wrong VRAM handling and DMA timing, so I'm not at all surprised that something that pushes the bandwith as tightly as I do would run into issues.  If it's hanging at the end of the video, make sure you're properly clearing the "playing" bit in the status flag when the audio track finishes.

[Queue]

...make sure you're properly clearing the "playing" bit in the status flag when the audio track finishes.

Thanks a bunch, that did the trick. I was just looping silence at the end of otherwise valid tracks.

[Nerd42]

would it be feasible to make a version which replaces the soundtrack AND runs on the PS1?

[Bregalad]

would it be feasible to make a version which replaces the soundtrack AND runs on the PS1?

When it comes to romhacking, the answer to "would it be feasible" is almost certainly always "yes". However, the answer to "is it worth the effort", the answer is clearly no. This would require VERY heavy hacking of the PS1 version to allow stream music data during gameplay - and in the end this version of the game is horribly slow anyway. Running the PS1 version has almost no advantages on running the SNES verison that I can think of.

[Chronosplit]

When it comes to romhacking, the answer to "would it be feasible" is almost certainly always "yes". However, the answer to "is it worth the effort", the answer is clearly no. This would require VERY heavy hacking of the PS1 version to allow stream music data during gameplay - and in the end this version of the game is horribly slow anyway. Running the PS1 version has almost no advantages on running the SNES verison that I can think of.

SNES is original, PS1 added the original FMVs and the bestiary with small tips.  DS is basically PS1 with a new translation, a monster fighting minigame, a tacked-on extra ending, and no loading.

Anyway, yeah I agree.  MSU-1 is far superior in this case anyway, as you wouldn't ever be able to switch music tracks to something other than what's being used with the PS1 version.  Well, technically you could... but that would  be so much work that it isn't even funny.

[qwertymodo]

I've been super burned out on this since my last round of playtests involved multiple full-game playthroughs, but tonight I'm watching the SGDQ 100% speedrun, and noticed that the Giant's Claw music "issue" is actually vanilla behavior, so we can mark that off the list!  I wasn't paying attention during Ozzie's Fort, so I'll have to check the VOD after the run, but it's possible that we might actually have a bug count of 1, and even then, the flickering menu is an issue in the vanilla game too, but it's borderline, and only happens sometimes, and the MSU-1 code just makes it slightly worse.  There are ways to reduce the additional flickering that I've implemented, so that's just a matter of how much I can improve my code for the worst case, it can't be completely eliminated since it already exists in vanilla.  So... maybe 0-ish bugs?

[Brantonomous]

I would love to try out this romhack, but I can't make sense of the instructions on the README.

I have the .flac files from the album, but I don't know what to do in order to properly convert them to .pcm. I managed to made pcm files, but when I drag them into my folder along with the modded rom and .msu, my SD2SNES just plays the game with muted music. No fmv's play either.

There's a lot more to this particular hack than other MSU-1 titles I've messed with and I'm simply not clear on what to do. If there's a decent breakdown of the correct steps to take in order to make this work, I would greatly appreciate it.

[qwertymodo]

I would love to try out this romhack, but I can't make sense of the instructions on the README.

I have the .flac files from the album, but I don't know what to do in order to properly convert them to .pcm. I managed to made pcm files, but when I drag them into my folder along with the modded rom and .msu, my SD2SNES just plays the game with muted music. No fmv's play either.

There's a lot more to this particular hack than other MSU-1 titles I've messed with and I'm simply not clear on what to do. If there's a decent breakdown of the correct steps to take in order to make this work, I would greatly appreciate it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyvaR168d84

[The_Atomik_Punk!]

Out of curiosity, would this project allow one to insert the PS1 FMV's, while retaining the original SNES OST, played on an SD2SNES flashcart (real hardware)?

If so, what would be the current functionality of that be? I gather things are still in beta, awaiting tester feedback of how things run, but is everything for all intents and purposes, working at this point?

[qwertymodo]

If you just omit the pcm files, the game falls back to the original soundtrack, so apply the patch and just don't download any pcm files (except for the FMV audio tracks, you'll still need those), and you should get what you're looking for.

Everything should be working more or less, other than the videos being low quality and watermarked.