[Jcnet1]

I encountered the same issue after patching the game with a PRG0 rom then patching the 3.0b2 rom with the reveal secrets patch.

I attempted to use mesen and nestopia retroarch cores but neither worked.

I was able to patch 3.0b2 with the sword patch as well as the level 9 secret patches and the game loaded just fine but much like the previous poster I would only see a black screen if i tried to load the game with the reveal secrets optional patch loaded.

[gzip]

Hmm, I wonder what I'm missing to be able to reproduce this. There's no problem w/ reveal_secrets.ips in 3.0b?

Could the patcher make a difference? I've been using this:
https://www.romhacking.net/patch/
May 04, 2022, 02:52:42 pm - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)Tried on retroarch with the same cores, no go. Not sure what else to try...

[Jcnet1]

I just patched the prg0 zelda rom with 3.0b then with level 9 secret then with reveal secrets and the game loaded up just fine after creating a new character

I then patched prg0 zelda from with 3.0b2 then with level 9 secret, then with reveal secrets and the game did not load after creating a new character. Problem seems exclusive to 3.0b2 changes. 3.0b2 works fine but only if I don't also include the 'reveal secrets' optional patch.

[gzip]

Try applying this patch after the others and let me know if it helps. I still can't reproduce the hang but that will help me narrow it down to a suspect piece of code.

[Jcnet1]

Applying the 3.02b patch to the prg0 rom, then the level 9 secret, then the reveal secrets patch, and then finally that patch file you just posted in the previous post to the same rom in that order allowed the game to load just fine

[gzip]

Great, that's a start. I wish I could reproduce the hang though, let me know if you can think of anything else that could be at play.

This is a long shot but ignore the previous patch and try this one instead, after the others. And just to clarify, does the level_9_secret patch have to be applied as well to get the hang?

[Jcnet1]

I just tried it with just the 3.0b2 patch + the reveal secret patch and experienced the black screen again so it didn't require any additional patches to trigger that.

As for your latest possible fix:
I patched 3.0b2, level 9 secret, reveal secret then finally your "possible hang fix" patch and the game loaded just fine.

[gzip]

Ok, we'll go with that then. Thanks for verifying the various patches!

Here's the latest 3.0b3. Other than the hang fix there's a text fix for the optional sword patch and it also replaces four of the duplicate overworld screens (south beach, east beach, death mountain, level 3 entrance).

[Jcnet1]

Just tried the new patch one with the level 9 secret, reveal secrets, and start with sword patch and the other without the sword patch

Both gave me a black screen after creating a character (I'm using mesen on retroarch with the newest core)

[gzip]

Doh! Let's try that again. Link above updated.

[Jcnet1]

Yay, it works, thanks for your dedication on this project 

[gzip]

Yay, it works, thanks for your dedication on this project 

Thanks for your diligence with testing.

[netux]

Hey gzip, what is the level 9 secret patch for? Is this the same as reveal secrets or what is the difference? Thanks

[gzip]

Hey gzip, what is the level 9 secret patch for? Is this the same as reveal secrets or what is the difference? Thanks

Hey netux, many people have struggled to find level 9  so that patch replaces the hidden passage to level 9 with a normal, obvious passageway.

[netux]

Hey netux, many people have struggled to find level 9  so that patch replaces the hidden passage to level 9 with a normal, obvious passageway.

Oh! got it. Ok, then I won't use that patch so I can try it as original intended. Thanks!

[gzip]

I finally had a chance to test the hack on real hardware today!

That's an SNROM cartridge of Spot with the battery and related components added, along with an adapter board from MouseBiteLabs which replaces the PRG-ROM with flashable memory. The tiny black and white television is an old karaoke machine found at a thrift shop.