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Sunsoft FDS dev disks
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Skrybe
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 13, 2009 11:15 pm    Post subject: Sunsoft FDS dev disks Reply with quote

These FDS images came from a set of 19 dev disks that DreamTR obtained from Sunsoft several years ago. They were dumped by rbudrick, who worked his ass off to get good copies of the things - copying a FDS disk isn't as cut-and-dry as copying a cartridge. Huge thanks to him for all the time he spent on these.

Although there were 19 disks, several of them had identical files on them, and several were blank. Weeding those out, we were left with the files below. You can get the full set here, and links to individual files are included in the descriptions below:


Adian no Tsue (Prototype)
Early version of a game that teaches basic arithmetic. I'm not certain of what specifically is changed in this version, but different file names (i.e. "SAAL11" here vs. "SAAL21" in the retail version,) as well as different file sizes, imply an earlier build.


Disk Control Program
Presumably, this was the software to some kind of system used to manipulate files on FDS disks. Interesting, though it doesn't do much of anything on its own.


Disk Hacker (Sunsoft version)
A version of Hacker International's disk copying program, stripped of any reference to Hacker International. Pretty interesting that Hacker International's software was good enough for a big company like Sunsoft to use it in their own game development.


Shanghai (Prototype)
This lacks any music, and a few of the menu options haven't been implemented, but the core game is pretty close to what was eventually released on the Famicom.


Shanghai II (Prototype), Dragon layout
Shanghai II (Prototype), Scorpion layout
Two different tile layouts from the same early build of Shanghai II. As above, this is essentially what was released on the Famicom, minus the music and flashy menus of the final build.


Map Editor
Tile Editor, older
Tile Editor, newer
And finally, a few of Sunsoft's internal dev tools. To make use of these, you'll need to hex edit the game you want to mess with on to side B of the .fds file. BMF summed these up best:
BMF54123 wrote:
Holy crap. It's no wonder their games looked so amazing, they developed directly on the hardware in real-time.


Enjoy!
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Skrybe
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 13, 2009 11:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One additional note regarding the Disk Control Program: It is possible to make the program display a few messages using a debugger, though it won't actually do anything.
BMF54123 wrote:
Normally, the program sits in a loop waiting for $E0-$E1 to change; to make it work, you write a command number to $E0, and then any value to $E1 (did they have some switches mapped here or something?). The available commands are:

10: DISK DELETE
20: DISK SAVE
40: DIRECTORY
80: DISK LOAD

At this point, I assume you're supposed to insert another disk (the program detects whether disks are inserted or removed), though doing so always fails with a DISK ERROR 24. =(
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TheRedEye
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 13, 2009 11:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Aren't there some tiles already on the tool disks? Was there anything unverified?
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Skrybe
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 12:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There isn't anything else on the tool disks themselves, but some of the other disks, ones I didn't include above, seemed to have been used for storage. There were files on some of them, though nothing that would boot on its own on a FDS system. I couldn't think of any good way to release those, since a lot of people wouldn't know what to do with the .fds images, since they won't load in an emulator, and piecing all the graphics together would take forever.

If anyone wants to take a look at the raw files, here's copies of all the "data" disks from the lot. Digging around in those turns up, among other things, some early graphics from Gremlins 2 and Journey to Silius, the latter including an alternate title screen calling it Operation SSS.
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Tongueman



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PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 4:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So here are some of the images taken from the data disks. It's OK to post them, right?





Journey to Silius wrote:

Notice how Jay gets a trendy new hairstyle in the final version








It looks like the sprites are added in to the BG, as though these were mock-up for bosses and gameplay.

A few more...
Hello there! The released version's title
Obviously, they played around with the placement a bit before settling on the final one.







More...





Last edited by Tongueman on Mon Dec 14, 2009 8:16 am; edited 1 time in total
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rbudrick
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 6:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice to see these finally released. Skrybe is right, I had to go through some ass-busting trickery to get these things to dump right, including weights (coins) on the felt-tipped disk arm cleaner thingy in the drive and in some cases, hundreds of runs of the disk in FDSLoader, along with inventing my own calibration techniques for very finely tuning/refurbishing a FDS drive (figuring out with a micrometer the exact spacing of the disk head). In some cases, I think I had to tune the drive to NON-optimal settings to get certain blocks to read, but memory is fuzzy.

I do have to wonder, how the hell that Sunsoft Disk Control Program was supposed to actually be used/activated. Also, weren't there some other graphics from a GameBoy game or something on one of these? My memory is fuzzy.

And yes, it seems some of these disks were likely overwritten several times, hence the inaccessible files and random graphics data hidden on the disks.

Many thanks to DreamTR for being extraordinarily patient while I took I dunno, a month or two to dump those 19 disks.

-Rob
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Carnivol
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 7:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is several flavors of awesome. These sure are Sunsoft-ish days.
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Tongueman



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PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 8:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

rbudrick wrote:
Also, weren't there some other graphics from a GameBoy game or something on one of these?


Yep, the graphics for the hero in GB Trip World are also on one disk:
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Skrybe
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cool, thanks for posting those images, Chris.
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rbudrick
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ah, Trip World, that's right. Thanks, Chris!

Was there any scholarly speculation as to why those monochromatic GB images would be on a FDS disk? I can't remember.

Oh, and with all the images above, that was pretty much the extent of the innaccessible graphics, right?

-Rob
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Tongueman



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PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 2:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, that's pretty much it, as far as I can remember.

I didn't post all the Gremlins 2 variations:



and
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rbudrick
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 5:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just a thought...would the Famicom keyboard perhaps interface with the Disk Controle program? Perhaps that's what might kick it into gear? Unlikely, but I thought of the Zanac cheats and how difficult they are to perform with ejecting the cart and all, only to find out years later they are enabled by the Famicom Keyboard.

-Rob
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GDRI



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PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 8:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tongueman wrote:


Is that Superman?
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Ichiban Crush
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 5:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

GDRI wrote:
Tongueman wrote:


Is that Superman?


That's what I was thinking but it looks different (bigger) than the Pre-Sunman version. A work in progress?
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adaml
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kind of related to the topic, but if anyone knows where one can find any info on gameplay for that Adian no Tsue game, please let me know. I can't believe that game was an educational game for kids. It's hard as hell surviving the enemies and I got lost while mapping the fu**ing game! The map seemed to loop around, yet it was different. No...patience...for...this.

So yeah, if anyone knows a Japanese site that has the game mapped out (*cough*Mr. Covell*ahem*) or any other info, I'm all eyes.
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Tongueman



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PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice to know I'm seen as the go-to guy for this.

One short guide that I found:

http://www.saturn.dti.ne.jp/~dastard/fcdisk/adia-tit.htm
http://www.saturn.dti.ne.jp/~dastard/fcdisk/adia-cha.htm
http://www.saturn.dti.ne.jp/~dastard/fcdisk/adia-itm.htm

A search for "アディアンの杖 攻略" might find you something.
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adaml
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes.

Yes.

Yes!

9 floors. Those maps look so simple too. How did that game burgle my mind so much.

Thanks Mr. C, you are indeed the go-to guy for this stuff.
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Skrybe
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Regarding the random graphics on some of the disks, there were also some from Ufouria, though nothing that wasn't in the final version. The disk labeled J22-3 seemed like it might have some actual code on it, with files named "SOUND", "ZONE1", and so on.
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Tongueman



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PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 2:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't know about all the files on that disk side, but most of them are from Adian no Tsue.
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celebi23



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PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 5:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tongueman wrote:



Amazing! How did you find the Superman graphics? Were they in "Tile Editor (Newer) (Sunsoft).FDS" or "Tile Editor (Older) (Sunsoft).FDS"? Do you have a guide of what you selected to find them? Thanks again for these! Amazing find!
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