tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231283624605213780.post6328996967618251801..comments2021-11-17T13:39:43.457-08:00Comments on GOSHtastic - Game shows, Options, Software, & Hardware!: Making a ROM hack of an old arcade gameGOSHtastic - Game shows, Options, Software, and Hardwarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16590401405065119990noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231283624605213780.post-74491081638370761312019-03-11T20:34:53.437-07:002019-03-11T20:34:53.437-07:00Hi Luis, hopefully you are using saved states to t...Hi Luis, hopefully you are using saved states to try to advance yourself through the game. However, I don't think you'll have any luck with ripping tiles from the tile editor with a new version of MAME either. I just dealt with the same battle for some Sega Genesis titles, and MAME was not helpful. I ended up recruiting a few programs: Exodus (most helpful, but it's Sega-specific), Tile Molester (which may or may not work for non-SEGA games), and YYCHR (an old standby for NES games but I taught it how to interpret SEGA graphics). <br /><br />There may be some helpful tribal knowledge if you ask around AtariAge or romhacking.net for suggestions about software to extract graphics from Amiga games. Just beware that SEGA games often draw graphics through procedural means, with lots of clever copying between RAM, so the pattern won't necessarily appear in ROM. The same might hold true for Amiga. <br /><br />Good luck!GOSHtastic - Game shows, Options, Software, and Hardwarehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16590401405065119990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231283624605213780.post-36772899144475175002019-02-28T05:56:54.030-08:002019-02-28T05:56:54.030-08:00Hello, thank you very much for all this informatio...Hello, thank you very much for all this information, I am doing a recreation for AMIGA, and the screen is only 320x200, or possibly 320x256 in the pal, although there is a 640 x 200 mode, but the 640x400 is interlaced. So far, I captured the tiles from a movie that recorded mames frame by frame, but I had not been able to pass from level 6, which is the background 3. The mames I have does not have tile viewer, I think because it is not 64 bits and it is 2013, I will try to update it. I need the tiles and the funds, let's see, if I canLuis Fernándezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07626895943530958074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231283624605213780.post-88546140220805145782019-02-28T05:54:00.748-08:002019-02-28T05:54:00.748-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Luis Fernándezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07626895943530958074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231283624605213780.post-47201981342236634632018-11-08T17:37:59.736-08:002018-11-08T17:37:59.736-08:00Sounds intriguing! I tend to coordinate or bring ...Sounds intriguing! I tend to coordinate or bring stuff to several retro game expos throughout the year. If you've got Twitter, follow me at @SWebCEO. Then I'll follow you back and we can start DMing.GOSHtastic - Game shows, Options, Software, and Hardwarehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16590401405065119990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231283624605213780.post-32990428648046063882018-11-07T10:08:10.780-08:002018-11-07T10:08:10.780-08:00Hey Stephen
Thank you for the information.
I just ...Hey Stephen<br />Thank you for the information.<br />I just acquired the licenses to a few retro games and the ROMs need to be cleaned up as far as legal and logos go. Would you be interested in helping out? <br />If so is there a way to reach out to you privately to discuss the details of my project?StolenKits Gots Beatshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10626824902851319450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231283624605213780.post-63514545872818671322018-11-06T20:57:13.948-08:002018-11-06T20:57:13.948-08:00It depends on how the text is presented. If it is...It depends on how the text is presented. If it is indeed part of a background or a sprite, then you can use the technique above to change the artwork representing the text, or change the arrangement of letters by changing the order/arrangement of background tiles. This would be especially relevant for splash screens or title cards. But for regular text such as prompts and high score callouts, you simply need to open up the ROM in a hex editor. In most cases, the text you wish to change should be easy to find by searching for the string (as text, not as hex). <br /><br />I'm not sure if you're familiar with ASCII encoding, but it maps letters, numbers, and symbols into computer code. Most of the time, the strings are ASCII-encoded, but if you aren't able to find the text string easily, then maybe they used a non-ASCII encoding for the text. Don't despair; keep looking for patterns. Think of elementary-school code books like A=1, B=2, etc., and let that thought process guide your search should a simple search not suffice.<br /><br />Finally, the most important thing: if you find text strings embedded in ROM, you must be careful not to shorten or lengthen the text field. If anything, use spaces to blank out unused letters. If you must shorten or lengthen the text field, you will have a ton of work in front of you as you will need to reset the value of any type of program flow instructions (such as JMP/jump to address and JSR/jump to subbroutine) that cause the program to load a specific address in the ROM after the addresses you affected. It could potentially affect branching instructions too (akin to if/then/else but usually based on comparisons to zero) on certain architectures. Even though a branch might use a relative address rather than an absolute address, you may have changed that relative address -- and the maximum that relative address can be could be limited to just a few bytes. As such, unless you can reconstruct the machine code in a higher-level language or have a lot of patience for testing & debugging, you should definitely avoid changing string lengths in ROM.GOSHtastic - Game shows, Options, Software, and Hardwarehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16590401405065119990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231283624605213780.post-30173239074370344262018-11-06T12:56:52.519-08:002018-11-06T12:56:52.519-08:00Can these same steps be used to edit text with in ...Can these same steps be used to edit text with in a arcade ROM?StolenKits Gots Beatshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10626824902851319450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231283624605213780.post-81866501615486639922018-06-28T12:17:17.974-07:002018-06-28T12:17:17.974-07:00Man, I hate how this thing doesn't notify me w...Man, I hate how this thing doesn't notify me when I get comments! :-( Are you still grappling with modifying tiles? If so, and as long as you're OK with adapting the code for your purposes, I can send it your way. I'd like to make it more user-friendly before releasing it to the general public.GOSHtastic - Game shows, Options, Software, and Hardwarehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16590401405065119990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231283624605213780.post-40919823421303461002018-06-28T12:15:30.239-07:002018-06-28T12:15:30.239-07:00Not yet. :-( It's definitely on the backlog th...Not yet. :-( It's definitely on the backlog though. The problem is I'm grappling with how to make it more user-friendly, while also pursuing a ton of other projects ;) . I can release it as-is but you'll have to do *a lot* of stuff by hand or in code.GOSHtastic - Game shows, Options, Software, and Hardwarehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16590401405065119990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231283624605213780.post-76799608366298342092018-06-14T13:32:45.166-07:002018-06-14T13:32:45.166-07:00This is great. I have looked over your powerpoint....This is great. I have looked over your powerpoint. I'm so not good at coding. Did you ever release your python script?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16316591329501849940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231283624605213780.post-14335681068797286602017-06-29T12:11:03.774-07:002017-06-29T12:11:03.774-07:00Hello from the UK :)
I've been trying to do th...Hello from the UK :)<br />I've been trying to do the same thing with Tapper. I've bypassed the checksum, managed to move tiles around, but don't know how to get new tiles into the game. I also had no luck with any of the tile editors. Would you be able to enlighten me with your Python knowledge? Mex Luthorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02867593298600824415noreply@blogger.com