Register - Login
Views: 99382451
 Main - Memberlist - Active users - Calendar - Wiki - IRC Chat - Online users
Ranks - Rules/FAQ - Stats - Latest Posts - Color Chart - Smilies		 04-24-22 01:29:01 AM
Jul - Posts by koolaidman
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
koolaidman
Member
Level: 24


Posts: 101/108
EXP: 73588
For next: 4537

Since: 07-17-10


Since last post: 3.4 years
Last activity: 1.2 years
Posted on 08-27-16 08:50:53 PM, in Weird Discoveries (last edited by koolaidman at 08-27-16 08:58:05 PM) Link


In the US version of Burning Rangers, if 060FFC30 is h'2000 instead of h'200, it loads a small debugger. This is checked every frame by a function at 0601E474 (in 0.bin). To get this to load in game yourself, the instruction at 060040E6 should read "mov.w #h'2000, r0" instead of "mov.w #h'200, r0". The value used in this instruction is stored at 6004166 in 0.bin, so you can just modify the file with your favorite hex editor (in the file itself, the address will be at 0x166).

PRGTTL.bin contains text for a 'config' screen where you can modify the following settings:

- SET CONFIG -
START STAGE:
KEY ASSIGN :
PL NODISP :
PLAYER NAME:
NO OBJECT :
GENERATE :
INFO OFF :
TIME LIMIT :
ENV. LIGHT :
IMM GOUR :
MAP EDIT :
DEMO NUMBER:
CRYSTAL ALL:
CRYSTAL 20 :
LIGHT ONCE :
INVINCIBLE :
DEBUG DISP :

This file, and some of the other PRG bin files are compressed in some format and contain some small chunks of code. PRGTTL.bin in particular seems to be used for initializing stages. In the Taikenban, the code/strings for this file is actually compiled directly in 0.bin (the main executable). To view this file in the final version, you'll have to let the game decompress it and go to 06078000 in memory at the right time. I've disassembled the file in both the Taikenban and in the final and cant quite figure out how the game accesses this screen. The code that loads these strings as part of an array is located at 0607C720 with the base address and everything but nothing I know accesses it.

That weird mess of characters at the bottom of the print out in the screenshot is the current password.
koolaidman
Member
Level: 24


Posts: 102/108
EXP: 73588
For next: 4537

Since: 07-17-10


Since last post: 3.4 years
Last activity: 1.2 years
Posted on 11-17-16 06:09:28 PM, in Weird Discoveries Link
Okay here's something weird.

In the prototype of Growl that Hidden Palace uploaded a few months a go, the game is mostly the same but there's something weird going on where there is supposed to be padding.

(Left is proto, right is final)
http://i.imgur.com/blynq4g.png

That's totally text, but it's all mangled up somehow. It doesn't look like its compressed, or the odd/even bytes of something else, and the bytes don't match up to anything else in the Megadrive library. The text, from what I gather, isn't even remotely relevant to the game itself. It sounds like it's referring to something about the Soviets and bombing for some reason. This text is NOT used in the game, and it's definitely not supposed to be here as it clips out at 0x18000 in the rom. Could this be from some other Taito game?

Since the ROMs don't originate from carts, the padded bytes must've been added either while the game was compiling or when the roms were being interweaved. The text for the padding
occurs in a few more places, but the spot in the image is more substantial. Here are the addresses in the ROM that appear to have some more random bytes:

0x15e34-0x16000
0x17a56-0x18000
0x1b7a2-0x1c000 (this seems like some other kind of data)

There seems to be a name drop of some kind 0x17CC5, but I have no idea what it could be.

Any ideas what the heck is going on here?
koolaidman
Member
Level: 24


Posts: 103/108
EXP: 73588
For next: 4537

Since: 07-17-10


Since last post: 3.4 years
Last activity: 1.2 years
Posted on 02-17-17 04:23:34 PM, in Prototypes! Link
Hey guys (ehw here from HPZ). I noticed you guys were documenting some of the prototypes that were released over the past few months on Hidden Palace so I wanted to paste the ones that were recently released here so more people could check it out:


http://hiddenpalace.org/The_Lion_King_(Early_Prototype)
The title screen is completely different, animations are either unfinished or different all together, each level is unfinished save for the first, music differences, rough “wireframe” models of animated sprites, and more.


http://hiddenpalace.org/The_Lion_King_(v.21_prototype)
This build contains many aesthetic differences, such as different object placement, an even more difficult version of the second level, unfinished bonus stages, and an unfinished version of the last level (the fight with Scar).

And speaking of Lion King, if you haven’t seen it yet, a prototype was released on ASSEMBler not too long ago. It’s the latest of the bunch but it still has some differences.

http://hiddenpalace.org/The_Lion_King_(v.48_prototype)

I also wanted to ask if maybe perhaps it would be best to have a thread specifically for Hidden Palace releases instead of flooding this one? There's going to be a lot to shift through in the near future, but it's up to you.

I also wanted to say thanks for all the write ups you guys made so far. Wherever possible, I try to reference the articles on TCRF on the prototype's wiki entry on HPZ. If you guys make some more based on the releases I'll keep referencing them on the site.
koolaidman
Member
Level: 24


Posts: 104/108
EXP: 73588
For next: 4537

Since: 07-17-10


Since last post: 3.4 years
Last activity: 1.2 years
Posted on 02-18-17 01:47:34 AM, in Prototypes! Link
Thanks, I added references to the tcrf pages to the ones you linked. I actually didn't know you guys were adding Hidden Palace as a reference on some pages until just a few days a go. I also added references on as many HPZ releases as I could find on tcrf, but it's possible I missed a few. You can actually check all the prototypes that were added so far on this page:

http://hiddenpalace.org/Prototypes

There are some prototypes still missing that are on no-intro, but I think we're going to see if we can figure out where they originated from first since a lot of them came from the old BBS/Scene days. I know for a fact World of Illusion and Dynamite Headdy were old scene releases. We're going to do something special with these which will involve importing all of them in bulk. We're probably going to put them under a 'lot' of their own. I did add as much as I could find that was released over the past few years on places like ASSEMBler and LostLevels, but there's still a lot floating around (I didn't even begin backing up all of NintendoPlayer's or SMSPower's stuff yet). It's just insane for one person to do.

Right now I'm just adding things as they get released on a few sites I'm keeping an eye on. I'm also watching out on how much disk space is being used since I don't think the site can handle large uploads.
koolaidman
Member
Level: 24


Posts: 105/108
EXP: 73588
For next: 4537

Since: 07-17-10


Since last post: 3.4 years
Last activity: 1.2 years
Posted on 02-25-17 08:46:41 PM, in Prototypes! (last edited by koolaidman at 02-25-17 08:49:04 PM) Link
Hidden Palace released two more prototypes today.

High Seas Havoc (Early prototype)
Mickey Mania (Sep 1994 prototype)

The High Seas Havoc one is pretty interesting. It's early, but all the level designs are implemented save for the object layouts in most of them (even for the first level for some reason). It seems to be using a test object layout for the stages that lack object layouts, which you can see in the video for the first stage. There's also some palette changes too.

The Mickey Mania prototype is later than the one that was released years a go by SNEAKERS. I mentioned as many visible differences in comparison to the final by comparing the two ROMs together but I didn't play through the entire game. I do know that the level before the final boss works, and the final boss level itself lacks the actual boss even though the stage will load. It's missing that unused song from the earlier prototype, and it actually has a title screen this time (which looks different). Thankfully, level select is enabled by default in this build.

Speaking of level select, I mentioned about a year a go that I discovered the level select code for the earlier build on the talk page of the article. As it turns out, the code was changed so that it would be impossible to normally access the level select even if the correct method for accessing it were used. So I had to write a Game Genie code to access it.

Mickey Mania (Jul 1994 prototype)

The Game Genie code is RECA-E6WC for those that wanna try it. I mirrored the build on HPZ and added a reference to the TCRF article as well. I figured out a possible 'date' for this ROM by looking at the timestamps on the original scene release and was surprised to discover it was packaged in early August of 1994. So the ROM itself could be from July. The date for the build released today was determined by the month/year in the header (which happens to be SEP/94, whereas the final is OCT/94 I think). So I'd imagine that the date for it is closer to the beginning of September or last weeks of August.

Coincidentally, I noticed that the Mickey Mania prototype released by drx back in 2011 for the Sega CD is timestamped to the last week of August in 1994, still before the release of the game and the final build date as well. I noticed that the prototype for the Sega CD shared some similarities with the prototype released today for the Mega Drive, mainly in the text changes. The only big difference is that the final boss is actually implemented in the Sega CD prototype, but isn't in the Mega drive one released today.
koolaidman
Member
Level: 24


Posts: 106/108
EXP: 73588
For next: 4537

Since: 07-17-10


Since last post: 3.4 years
Last activity: 1.2 years
Posted on 03-06-17 06:47:41 AM, in Weird Discoveries Link
Originally posted by LocalH
I think it may be even/odd shenanigans after all. I extracted the first two ranges into separate files (as I went the quick route and snagged the WinHex evaluation version to split them).

There doesn't seem to be a single bit of corruption on the even bytes. Pure ASCII text, with nulls and occasionally an 0xFF byte between strings.

The odd bytes seem to be where the corruption happened, but not all bytes are corrupted. Inspecting a few characters and I didn't see a pattern in the bits that were corrupted. For example, at 0x15E97, the word is clearly Soldier. Instead of an S (01010011) there is 0xF7 (11110111), with bits 7, 5, and 2 flipped. Instead of an i (01101001) there is a left curly bracket (01111011), with bits 4 and 1 flipped. Some more analysis of the odd bytes compared to what the text should be (in places where that can be discerned) may find a more complex pattern to the corruption.


I finally figured out what game the text is meant for. For some reason, pieces of text from M-1 Abrams Battle Tank for the Sega Mega Drive are showing up here and there.

Here's the text bit:
"You have nothing to be ashamed about though, Soldier. You put in fine day's work."........"What are you doing back here? You haven't met any of the goals of your mission!"......"Did you miss your mommy? Or are you just terminally stupid?!"......."Both bases are still intact. The last convoy we sent through was blown to bits. My superiors are screaming down my neck and I have to look at your ugly face!"....."You enjoy doing this to me don't you?"......."Well, I think that you set some kind of record on this one."....."Both Soviet bases are still standing. The latest supply convoy was blown to bits by a Soviet attack force and you and your men made it back all safe and dry."......"Soldier, you are in SERIOUS trouble!!""......With both bases destroyed, the Soviets were weakened in the Siegen region and the cut-off cities were refortified. The Allied Forces caught the Soviets pulling back and inflicted heavy losses..Although one base was destroyed, there turned out to be a second hidden in the hills. Nearly all Allied supply convoys sent from Esseen were destroyed. The Soviets pushed in and took control..With little resistance from the Allies, the Soviets swept into the surrounding cities and took control of the entire Siegen region. Many men were lost and our strategic position was compromised....."First of all, I just want to know if you are in the habit of leaving multi-million dollar tanks lying around in the middle of Soviet occupied territory?"......"Anyway, as for your mission..."........"Oh, by the way, there's just one more thing."


I still don't know why it's in the rom though. Although the text does appear in the same address as the Growl rom.
koolaidman
Member
Level: 24


Posts: 107/108
EXP: 73588
For next: 4537

Since: 07-17-10


Since last post: 3.4 years
Last activity: 1.2 years
Posted on 04-16-18 01:10:33 AM, in Weird Discoveries (last edited by koolaidman at 04-16-18 01:12:03 AM) Link
Tiny find. But in the late prototype of Kid Chameleon Hidden Palace released two years a go, there's one major change to one of the most notorious obstacles in the game. In the final game, the "Murder wall" (which is featured in "Hills of the Warrior 1", "Forced Entry", and "Bloody Swamp") has a special condition check for "Hills of the Warrior 1" where it's set to move at a slower speed in comparison to its use in the later levels. In the prototype, none of the code for this is present so it's just as difficult to outrun in the first stage as it is in the later levels. Somebody must've got upset before the game went gold.
koolaidman
Member
Level: 24


Posts: 108/108
EXP: 73588
For next: 4537

Since: 07-17-10


Since last post: 3.4 years
Last activity: 1.2 years
Posted on 11-20-18 03:22:11 PM, in Star Fox Adventures E3 2002 prototype (5/17/02) Link
tfw its been 5 years.

Nice stuff everyone. I check this thread every now and then but just haven't had the time I used to.

Did anyone ever figure out STORYBOARD.bin? iirc, the .ind file is a list of 92 two byte index numbers (in sequence) plus a null terminator. The .tab file is a list of 92 four byte big endian addresses that correlate to parts of STORYBOARD.bin (with a base address of 0x0). Checking what the addresses are pointing at, there seems to be something that resembles a header:

84 70 00 00 09

I did a binary search for this sequence of bytes in a folder containing all the extracted files from the demo (anything still compressed still is, though) and couldn't find any other files with that sequence. Nothing in Diddy Kong 64 either...
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Jul - Posts by koolaidman


Rusted Logic
Acmlmboard - commit 47be4dc [2021-08-23]
©2000-2022 Acmlm, Xkeeper, Kaito Sinclaire, et al.

22 database queries, 19 query cache hits.
Query execution time:  0.075438 seconds
Script execution time:  0.015012 seconds
Total render time:  0.090450 seconds


TidyHTML vomit below
line 1 column 1 - Warning: missing <!DOCTYPE> declaration
line 119 column 11 - Warning: <form> isn't allowed in <table> elements
line 118 column 10 - Info: <table> previously mentioned
line 120 column 11 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 120 column 119 - Warning: missing </font> before </td>
line 124 column 16 - Warning: plain text isn't allowed in <tr> elements
line 120 column 11 - Info: <tr> previously mentioned
line 125 column 68 - Warning: missing </nobr> before </td>
line 141 column 68 - Warning: missing </nobr> before <tr>
line 147 column 35 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 147 column 50 - Warning: missing </font> before </td>
line 147 column 137 - Warning: missing </font> before </table>
line 149 column 35 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 149 column 96 - Warning: unescaped & or unknown entity "&page"
line 149 column 130 - Warning: unescaped & or unknown entity "&page"
line 149 column 164 - Warning: unescaped & or unknown entity "&page"
line 149 column 198 - Warning: unescaped & or unknown entity "&page"
line 149 column 232 - Warning: unescaped & or unknown entity "&page"
line 149 column 50 - Warning: missing </font> before </td>
line 149 column 269 - Warning: missing </font> before </table>
line 156 column 9 - Warning: <div> isn't allowed in <table> elements
line 152 column 17 - Info: <table> previously mentioned
line 158 column 9 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 176 column 13 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 209 column 9 - Warning: <div> isn't allowed in <table> elements
line 152 column 17 - Info: <table> previously mentioned
line 211 column 9 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 229 column 13 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 255 column 9 - Warning: <div> isn't allowed in <table> elements
line 152 column 17 - Info: <table> previously mentioned
line 257 column 9 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 275 column 13 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 297 column 9 - Warning: <div> isn't allowed in <table> elements
line 152 column 17 - Info: <table> previously mentioned
line 299 column 9 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 317 column 13 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 329 column 9 - Warning: <div> isn't allowed in <table> elements
line 152 column 17 - Info: <table> previously mentioned
line 331 column 9 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 349 column 13 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 370 column 9 - Warning: <div> isn't allowed in <table> elements
line 152 column 17 - Info: <table> previously mentioned
line 372 column 9 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 390 column 13 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 407 column 9 - Warning: <div> isn't allowed in <table> elements
line 152 column 17 - Info: <table> previously mentioned
line 409 column 9 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 427 column 13 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 433 column 9 - Warning: <div> isn't allowed in <table> elements
line 152 column 17 - Info: <table> previously mentioned
line 435 column 9 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 453 column 13 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 468 column 17 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 468 column 17 - Warning: discarding unexpected <table>
line 471 column 35 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 471 column 96 - Warning: unescaped & or unknown entity "&page"
line 471 column 130 - Warning: unescaped & or unknown entity "&page"
line 471 column 164 - Warning: unescaped & or unknown entity "&page"
line 471 column 198 - Warning: unescaped & or unknown entity "&page"
line 471 column 232 - Warning: unescaped & or unknown entity "&page"
line 471 column 50 - Warning: missing </font> before </td>
line 471 column 269 - Warning: missing </font> before </table>
line 473 column 35 - Warning: missing <tr>
line 473 column 50 - Warning: missing </font> before </td>
line 473 column 137 - Warning: missing </font> before </table>
line 475 column 17 - Warning: discarding unexpected </textarea>
line 475 column 28 - Warning: discarding unexpected </form>
line 475 column 35 - Warning: discarding unexpected </embed>
line 475 column 43 - Warning: discarding unexpected </noembed>
line 475 column 53 - Warning: discarding unexpected </noscript>
line 475 column 64 - Warning: discarding unexpected </noembed>
line 475 column 74 - Warning: discarding unexpected </embed>
line 475 column 82 - Warning: discarding unexpected </table>
line 475 column 90 - Warning: discarding unexpected </table>
line 477 column 9 - Warning: missing </font> before <table>
line 489 column 25 - Warning: discarding unexpected </font>
line 498 column 58 - Warning: discarding unexpected </font>
line 476 column 1 - Warning: missing </center>
line 120 column 63 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 125 column 19 - Warning: <td> attribute "width" has invalid value "120px"
line 125 column 93 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 141 column 19 - Warning: <td> attribute "width" has invalid value "120px"
line 141 column 98 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 161 column 22 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 161 column 63 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 161 column 112 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 161 column 162 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 172 column 15 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 179 column 74 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 214 column 22 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 214 column 63 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 214 column 112 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 214 column 162 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 225 column 15 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 260 column 22 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 260 column 63 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 260 column 112 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 260 column 162 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 271 column 15 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 280 column 329 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 284 column 676 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 294 column 1763 - Warning: <img> proprietary attribute value "absmiddle"
line 294 column 1763 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 302 column 22 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 302 column 63 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 302 column 112 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 302 column 162 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 313 column 15 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 334 column 22 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 334 column 63 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 334 column 112 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 334 column 162 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 345 column 15 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 352 column 124 - Warning: <img> proprietary attribute value "absmiddle"
line 352 column 124 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 375 column 22 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 375 column 63 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 375 column 112 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 375 column 162 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 386 column 15 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 412 column 22 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 412 column 63 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 412 column 112 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 412 column 162 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 423 column 15 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 430 column 705 - Warning: <img> proprietary attribute value "absmiddle"
line 430 column 705 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 438 column 22 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 438 column 63 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 438 column 112 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 438 column 162 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 449 column 15 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 458 column 124 - Warning: <img> proprietary attribute value "absmiddle"
line 458 column 124 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 483 column 25 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 488 column 267 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 147 column 137 - Warning: trimming empty <font>
line 149 column 269 - Warning: trimming empty <font>
line 468 column 17 - Warning: trimming empty <tr>
line 471 column 269 - Warning: trimming empty <font>
line 473 column 137 - Warning: trimming empty <font>
line 125 column 68 - Warning: <nobr> is not approved by W3C
line 141 column 68 - Warning: <nobr> is not approved by W3C
line 177 column 27 - Warning: <nobr> is not approved by W3C
line 230 column 27 - Warning: <nobr> is not approved by W3C
line 276 column 27 - Warning: <nobr> is not approved by W3C
line 318 column 27 - Warning: <nobr> is not approved by W3C
line 350 column 27 - Warning: <nobr> is not approved by W3C
line 391 column 27 - Warning: <nobr> is not approved by W3C
line 428 column 27 - Warning: <nobr> is not approved by W3C
line 454 column 27 - Warning: <nobr> is not approved by W3C
Info: Document content looks like HTML5
Info: No system identifier in emitted doctype
Tidy found 141 warnings and 0 errors!


The alt attribute should be used to give a short description
of an image; longer descriptions should be given with the
longdesc attribute which takes a URL linked to the description.
These measures are needed for people using non-graphical browsers.

For further advice on how to make your pages accessible
see http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL.
You are recommended to use CSS to specify the font and
properties such as its size and color. This will reduce
the size of HTML files and make them easier to maintain
compared with using <FONT> elements.

You are recommended to use CSS to control line wrapping.
Use "white-space: nowrap" to inhibit wrapping in place
of inserting <NOBR>...</NOBR> into the markup.

About HTML Tidy: https://github.com/htacg/tidy-html5
Bug reports and comments: https://github.com/htacg/tidy-html5/issues
Official mailing list: https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-htacg/
Latest HTML specification: http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec-author-view/
Validate your HTML documents: http://validator.w3.org/nu/
Lobby your company to join the W3C: http://www.w3.org/Consortium

Do you speak a language other than English, or a different variant of
English? Consider helping us to localize HTML Tidy. For details please see
https://github.com/htacg/tidy-html5/blob/master/README/LOCALIZE.md