Jul -- The Cutting Room Floor: Request for help finding unused stuff in Sega-AM2 games

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Jul - The Cutting Room Floor - Request for help finding unused stuff in Sega-AM2 games

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Zerochan
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Posted on 08-12-14 08:05:21 AM

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Hello, TCRF denizens. Posting here for the first time - I've been a longtime fan of the site (and I've written about it a few times!), and I'm utterly fascinated by the many things you fine folks have managed to dig up. This is the sort of thing I'd love to contribute to... if I had even the slightest knowledge of programming and hacking tools.

And this is a problem, because I've been chomping at the bit to see more unused content from games by my favorite developer, Sega-AM2, turn up. Sadly, aside from a few older MD/arcade games, not many Sega-AM2 games are represented on the wiki. This needs to be remedied!

Thus, I would like to humbly request the aid of TCRF and their hacking skills to thoroughly dig inside these classic titles. Any and all AM2 games should ideally be looked at (I'm pretty surprised Shenmue hasn't been completely dissected, honestly!), but here are the ones I'm really eager for you fine folks to help with, and why:

- Virtua Fighter 1/2/3/4/5/upgrades (AC) - My favorite game series ever. I'm very eager to see what kind of stuff lurks in the depths of the program ROMs: Unused character/background/item models, unused textures, debugging stuff, all manner of delicious dev tidbits. VF3 in particular had a ton of stuff from its original location test version (backgrounds, music, character alt outfits) go unused in the final.
- Fighting Vipers (AC Model 2.1) - Sonic, Tails, and the other hidden but inaccessible characters have been found, so I'm more looking for early dev remnants - different backgrounds, different character names and HUD (seen in some early screens), unused textures, etc.
- Fighting Vipers 2 (AC Model 3 Step 2) - looking for mostly the same as above, but also interested to see if the code for the rare "special edition" version from a limited venue is buried within the "standard" version ROMs but just inaccessible.
- Virtua Fighter 4/Evolution (PS2) - I remember seeing a few Japanese sites that claimed to have PAR codes to enable debug modes. Never got a PAR to test these myself, and the pages with said info have long since vanished. Also looking for the usual early dev remnants, etc etc.
- Virtua Cop 3 (Xbox/Chihiro) - Probably the game I'm most interested in finding unused content in. Early concept art features ~~my waifu~~ Vanessa from VF as a potential playable character, and I'm eager to see if there are any remnants of her potential existence in the game. Of note, with some tweaking, you can apparently run VC3 almost painlessly on an Xbox that's modded with extra RAM: http://ptoponline.com/?p=533

So, how about it? Would anyone be willing to get the ball rolling on opening up some AM2 titles? I swear I'll love you forever (platonically) if you do!

7HeroesForceBattle
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Posted on 08-13-14 12:47:03 AM

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Originally posted by Zerochan

- Virtua Fighter 4/Evolution (PS2) - I remember seeing a few Japanese sites that claimed to have PAR codes to enable debug modes. Never got a PAR to test these myself, and the pages with said info have long since vanished.

do you remember when you saw these sites, and what format they were in? Like blog format, archived 2ch-esque forum posts, those dense "why are Japanese gamers so averse to screenshots" fanpages, GameFAQs-esque contributor-based sites, etc...

(I'm assuming you don't have defunct bookmarks laying around)

Foxhack
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Posted on 08-13-14 02:13:45 AM

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There's a good chance that some sites might still be around in Wayback Archive.

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Zerochan
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Posted on 08-13-14 02:20:48 AM

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Guh, no edit feature.

But yeah, "dense fanpages" is an apt descriptor. These pages were from around 2003-2004ish. I'm almost 100% positive the bookmarks I had are long gone, though.

Originally posted by 7HeroesForceBattle
Originally posted by Zerochan

- Virtua Fighter 4/Evolution (PS2) - I remember seeing a few Japanese sites that claimed to have PAR codes to enable debug modes. Never got a PAR to test these myself, and the pages with said info have long since vanished.

do you remember when you saw these sites, and what format they were in? Like blog format, archived 2ch-esque forum posts, those dense "why are Japanese gamers so averse to screenshots" fanpages, GameFAQs-esque contributor-based sites, etc...

(I'm assuming you don't have defunct bookmarks laying around)

Zerochan
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Posted on 08-13-14 03:03:43 AM

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Went ahead and made this:

http://tcrf.net/Prerelease/Virtua_Fighter_3

I'll make more pages for other stuff as I dig up more early/location test images from my HDDs.

Rachel Mae

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Posted on 08-13-14 08:25:53 AM (last edited by BMF54123 at 08-13-14 08:27:01 AM)

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Originally posted by Zerochan
Guh, no edit feature.

If you're logged in, there should be an Edit link in the bar above each of your posts.

Also, for prerelease pages, you'll want to put a colon in there instead of a slash (http://tcrf.net/Prerelease:Virtua_Fighter_3).

(also hello)

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Zerochan
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Posted on 08-13-14 05:11:56 PM

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Duly noted! Meanwhile, I added this today.

Zerochan
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Posted on 08-14-14 01:32:36 AM

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Can someone with a better PC than mine help test something out using Supermodel and VF3? There's a setting option to turn ranking ON or OFF, default is ON. When it's on, you are shown a ranking screen upon game over. I can't recall ever seeing a machine where it wasn't turned on, because seriously, why would you ever bother?

But... in going through the sound test, there are voice samples, similar to other VF games, that seem like they would be played when a character lost in VS CPU mode. Since the ranking screen occurs immediately when you game over, however, these clips aren't ever played... or so I think, as it might change with ranking turned off. As my PC runs Supermodel quite terribly, I can't test this for myself. Would anyone with a more powerful system be willing to help investigate this?

Foxhack
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Posted on 08-14-14 01:47:29 PM

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Originally posted by Zerochan
Can someone with a better PC than mine help test something out using Supermodel and VF3? There's a setting option to turn ranking ON or OFF, default is ON. When it's on, you are shown a ranking screen upon game over. I can't recall ever seeing a machine where it wasn't turned on, because seriously, why would you ever bother?

But... in going through the sound test, there are voice samples, similar to other VF games, that seem like they would be played when a character lost in VS CPU mode. Since the ranking screen occurs immediately when you game over, however, these clips aren't ever played... or so I think, as it might change with ranking turned off. As my PC runs Supermodel quite terribly, I can't test this for myself. Would anyone with a more powerful system be willing to help investigate this?

I'm bored so why the hell not.

Ranking Mode has a screen that shows up after you lose with a number and some text, right? I went into the options and turned that off, lost a fight, and the game went into the countdown, said "Game Over", and went into attract mode.

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Zerochan
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Posted on 08-14-14 06:02:42 PM

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Xlnt. Thank you immensely for the help! Now I can go ahead and record the samples.

Meanwhile, I went ahead and made a full-fledged VF3 arcade page.

koolaidman
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Posted on 08-15-14 12:13:09 AM

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The Virtua Fighter 2 (Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 16) port has function symbols in the executable. The symbol names seem to hint at emulation?

https://gist.github.com/anonymous/682802e1875f3859e950

A snippet:

 0004:000AD4C0       i960ExecXOR

 0004:000AD500       i960ExecXNOR

 0004:000AD540       i960ExecTANR

 0004:000AD600       i960ExecSYNMOVQ

 0004:000AD640       i960ExecSYNMOVL

 0004:000AD6C0       i960ExecSYNMOV

 0004:000AD740       i960ExecSUBR

 0004:000AD840       i960ExecSUBO

 0004:000AD880       i960ExecSUBI

 0004:000AD8C0       i960ExecSUBC

 0004:000AD980       i960ExecSQRTR

 0004:000ADA40       i960ExecSPANBIT

 0004:000ADAC0       i960ExecSINR

 0004:000ADB80       i960ExecSHRDI

 0004:000ADBC0       i960ExecSHRI

 0004:000ADC80       i960ExecSHLI

 0004:000ADCC0       i960ExecSHRO

Zerochan
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Posted on 08-15-14 01:50:20 AM

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Originally posted by koolaidman
The Virtua Fighter 2 (Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 16) port has function symbols in the executable. The symbol names seem to hint at emulation?

Yeah, it's definitely emulated. M2 worked on it, I believe!

Jiterdomer
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Posted on 08-19-14 12:16:02 AM (last edited by Jiterdomer at 08-19-14 12:21:01 AM)

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I made a first Sega-AM2 topic on TCRF which is Scud Race (Sega Super GT in the US):
http://tcrf.net/Scud_Race

Remember that Video Emulation for Model 3 seems incomplete and buggy. Also note that Virtua Fighter 3 lacks textures for Akira, Pai, and Lau's stage due to security issues.

Also someone made a video for Daytona USA showing a scrapped Live mode from Virtua Formula that went unused in this game along with the related HUDs from that game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLFBlc5NfaM

koolaidman
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Posted on 08-22-14 03:41:25 PM (last edited by koolaidman at 08-22-14 03:49:04 PM)

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Can anyone with a copy of Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution tell me the size of the executable? I have a European demo version from the OPS2M Vol 34 disc and the executable includes function/memory symbols. The executable is relatively huge too (around 20mb).

I'll see if I can find a debug in at least the demo version.

EDIT: Bah. I'll probably have better luck with the original Japanese version (not the Evo one):

main:00224320

main:00224320  # =============== S U B R O U T I N E =======================================

main:00224320

main:00224320

main:00224320 debug_disp:

main:00224320                 jr      $ra

main:00224324                 nop

main:00224324  # End of function debug_disp

main:00224324

main:00224324  # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

main:00224328                 .align 4

main:00224330

main:00224330  # =============== S U B R O U T I N E =======================================

main:00224330

main:00224330

main:00224330 debug_init:

main:00224330                 jr      $ra

main:00224334                 nop

main:00224334  # End of function debug_init

main:00224334

main:00224334  # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

main:00224338                 .align 4

main:00224340

main:00224340  # =============== S U B R O U T I N E =======================================

main:00224340

main:00224340

main:00224340 debug_main:

main:00224340                 jr      $ra

main:00224344                 nop

main:00224344  # End of function debug_main

main:00224344

main:00224344  # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

main:00224348                 .align 4

Zerochan
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Posted on 08-26-14 06:15:22 AM

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Thanks for your help, folks! Wondering if there are any texture viewers that'd work with Model 2 ROMs...?

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Jul - The Cutting Room Floor - Request for help finding unused stuff in Sega-AM2 games

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