Hey Sluffy, I finally found some time to do some extensive testing. Apologies if this is a bit late.
UniracersI tested the ROM with hex edits at the following offsets:
x12E29
x12EF1
x12D6A
x1304D
x13095
x12FC9
This is what I found after about 15 minutes each of playtesting:
[00] = Offscreen sprite appears in the top left of the screen, perfectly over the lap counter.
Picture:
Imgur Link[70] = Default
[E0] = Offscreen sprite appears in the top right of the screen, only partially visible (about half of the wheel).
Picture:
Imgur Link[E1] = No difference from [E0].
[EF] = Offscreen sprite appears in the top right of the screen, just barely visible (about 20% or so of the wheel).
Picture:
Imgur Link[F0] = No difference from [EF].
[FF] = Offscreen sprite did not appear anywhere on the screen. I stared closely at the corners in case I missed it, but it appeared to me that the offscreen sprite just never appeared on the screen.
*"Offscreen sprite" can refer to the rival player's sprite or your own sprite, as long as the sprite is offscreen.
It should be noted that all versions displayed the rival player's sprite for a short period of time on the right side of the screen after it leaves the left side of the screen. Although it's also important to note that Sluffy mentioned earlier in this thread that this is a Canoe issue.
Front Mission - Gun HazardI did quite a bit of testing on the save issue with this game. I found out that the SRAM file which Canoe creates upon using the in-game save slots, is in-fact not deleted or removed in any way. The SRAM file is still located where it should be within the SNES Classic, this has been verified by FTPing into the Classic. I went a bit further and extracted the SRAM file from the Classic and loaded the same save file with Higan, it loaded and played correctly as it should. All of this probably isn't too surprising, but I wanted to note everything that I found.
The interesting part is that I tested a different approach to loading the SRAM. I started the game and played it like I normally would, and then saved to Slot 1 using the in-game save slots. I then reset the game using the "L-Trigger + R-Trigger + Select + Start" button combination that many SNES games feature. Following the reset, when I arrived at the game's splash screen, I pushed the Reset switch on the console in order to return to the Classic's main menu. It is here that you can create Save States, so I created one at that point in the game (the splash screen). I then completely shut off the console.
After turning the Classic back on, I loaded up the Save State that I had just created, which was at the game's splash screen. I then selected "Continue" and there it was, the in-game save file on Slot 1. I selected the save file and it loaded to where I had previously saved the game and it played like it normally would. Loading the game without using the Save State would result in the same as previous, the SRAM would not be loaded.
I don't know too much about the memory mappings of the different SNES ROMs, but it appears to me that the ROM is somehow "forgetting" that the SRAM file exists
upon game shutdown/boot-up. However, the ROM clearly "remembers" the SRAM when using a Save State, even after game shutdown. I'm assuming this is the case due to the Save State loading the same exact mappings(?)/cache(?)/RAM(?) (no clue what you'd call it) from that previous playthrough.
SlayersThis game suffers from a completely different issue than Front Mission - Gun Hazard. The SRAM is saved correctly and detected correctly as it normally should. The issue occurs when loading the save file using the Continue option.
The game plays perfectly fine when selecting the New Game option, but when attempting to load an in-game save file, the game immediately glitches out and freezes. The screen will sometimes display a very quick flash of sprites(?) (I'm not too sure since it only appears for about one frame), or it might possibly be textures. Either way, it appears as if it's attempting to load the spot in the game from the save file (as the sprites/textures/whatever appear to be in the shape of the surrounding terrain where I saved), but immediately glitches out and begins to flash between black and a very faint dark-red(?), although this may just be a symptom of the aforementioned sprites/textures glitching out.
It should be noted that the music loads and continues to play perfectly normal as it should during all of this.
It should also be noted that the SRAM file does
not become corrupted in any sort of way! I extracted the SRAM file from the Classic in the same way that I did Front Mission - Gun Hazard. I then continued to load the same save file in Higan, and it loaded and played correctly as it normally would.
I should also specify that this occurs in both patched and original versions of the ROM.
Another interesting piece of information that I think is important to note is found in the translation's ReadMe file. I'll copy/paste what it says onto here:
Revised English Patch Release – October 21, 2010 (V1.01)
Our Slayers patch is fully compatible with SNES hardware including copiers such as the Super Wildcard DX2. For PC-based playing options, BSNES 060 is the recommended emulator of choice. Due to its true-to-hardware core coding, BSNES should execute all game features flawlessly. Our patch has also been tested successfully with SnesGT.
At this time ZSNES and SNES9x do not appear to support some game features in Slayers, especially simulated battery saves (SRAMs). However, these older but venerable emulators should support basic game play through the use of save-states.
Wow! Apologies for the towering wall of text. I just wanted to be as clear and specific as possible. Hopefully it will help at least a tiny bit.
And once again, thank you Sluffy for all of your hard work and for continuing to pump out fixes! You're an absolute machine!
Topic: Snes emulators (Canoe, Snes9x) -- game problems and fixes (Read 443508 times)