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Star Force NES Variant label/review copy
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dcescott



Joined: 11 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 2:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Man I still haven't read the butter thread, but I got through the first page. Friggin long. I had too much work to do.
Proto should be delivered today.
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Skrybe
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Finally dumped this. This ended up being much harder than I was expecting. The Fami board the game is on has a kind of copy protection on it, and it's literally impossible to dump a game on that particular board using the standard CopyNES software, at least as it's written now.

I contacted bootgod for help, fortunately he was already familiar with the protection after seeing it on some of the many Fami games he's documented, and he'd incorporated a method of dumping it in his database software. He explained how to set up his software to dump it, and it worked without a hitch.

I've confirmed that the rom is different from the retail version, but I haven't been able to find how those changes affect actual gameplay. Maybe someone else here can.

Here's the rom, and here's the entry in bootgod's database, for those who're interested in the technical specs. Thanks to bootgod for his help in dumping this, and of course big thanks to Daniel for loaning it to me in the first place.


Last edited by Skrybe on Tue Mar 11, 2008 11:32 pm; edited 1 time in total
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B00daW
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Skrybe wrote:
I contacted bootgod for help, fortunately he was already familiar with the protection after seeing it on some of the many Fami games he's documented, and he'd incorporated a method of dumping it in his database software. He explained how to set up his software to dump it, and it worked without a hitch.

First things first, thanks for getting this dumped. Secondly, would you be able to explain such settings and provide the assembly code for the special plug-in if there was one used?
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kap
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

B00daW wrote:
Skrybe wrote:
I contacted bootgod for help, fortunately he was already familiar with the protection after seeing it on some of the many Fami games he's documented, and he'd incorporated a method of dumping it in his database software. He explained how to set up his software to dump it, and it worked without a hitch.

First things first, thanks for getting this dumped. Secondly, would you be able to explain such settings and provide the assembly code for the special plug-in if there was one used?


Given it's bootgod's work and code and etc, you should probably ask him. He'll obviously have a better technical understanding too, given he wrote it.
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dcescott



Joined: 11 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looking forward to the results of the testing from everyone. Thanks Skrybe for handling this dump. Daniel
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B00daW
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Daniel, a brief study of what is provided so far tells us that the CHR (or graphics) are the same between production and prototype.

Just a quick glance at PRG (or code) shows that there are a lot of changes. I haven't dove deep into this yet, nor know if I will commit to the task, but this should provide you with some early insight. Smile

Thanks for lending the cart.

--

kap: *nod*
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dcescott



Joined: 11 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thats what I noticed when I played a few rounds. I knew the game was built differently since it's on a 60pin through an adapter. But I don't have the resources in house to check the rest. That's why I gave it up to dump the rom.
I wanted to see what they fixed or left out or what they changed at the last minute.
It could help undo some of the others that can't be dumped correctly.
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Blitzwing
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 6:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i just spent the last 4 hours of my life playing starforce...


I did a quick test of the proto and got further then I ever had previousy i got up to level I and got the shit kicked out of me. I then tried the regular us version and couldn't get past epsilon...so decided when in doubt cheat my ass off, I tried using the gg codes on the proto but much like what someone else mentioned they didn't work on the japanese version only on the us version, same with the proto.

I decided to get my practice on star force with the infinate life code, I manged to get to infinity AND max out the score (it doesn't flip if anyone cares) but for the life of me I coudln't get that cunt cleppatra to show her slutty ass in the gooofy pink area.

on a side note I never knew quite how close the nes verison was to the arcade verison, all of the same secrets and tricks work ,you can check them out on tghis decent page here:
http://www.users.bigpond.com/tjmorrow/emulation/StarForce/StarForce_Hints.htm

aside from the graphics and that one part with the non-shooting enemies everything is the same.

now that i've had some practice i'm going to try to "beaT" the proto and see if the super star force spam is in this verison as well,



on another note I did find my legit copy of the us verison and jap versions of star force, i'd like to see em both get redumped just to be sure the current dump isn't one of the billion star force pirate carts,

i''m pretty sure the us version did have a revision when it went from 3 screw to 5 screw but aparnetly one of em are rather hard to come by (so the butter demons tell me) I need to see if i have both Wink


anyways i'm going to have nightmares tonight about little orange ships killing me in my sleep, but as a plus i'm much better at starforce now Wink
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bootgod



Joined: 04 Mar 2008
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Blitzwing wrote:

on another note I did find my legit copy of the us verison and jap versions of star force, i'd like to see em both get redumped just to be sure the current dump isn't one of the billion star force pirate carts


I've dumped each of these in the past, you can see them here:
Famicom
NES (USA)

Blitzwing wrote:

i''m pretty sure the us version did have a revision when it went from 3 screw to 5 screw but aparnetly one of em are rather hard to come by (so the butter demons tell me) I need to see if i have both Wink


The 5-screw version is practically impossible to find it seems, I only know 1 person that has it! It should be the same ROM version as the 3-screw cart though, as it has -0 version ROMs.

Anyways, glad you were able to get it dumped Skrybe. All that hassle with those diodes and the CHR ROM turned out to be the same as the US release Razz Only one way to have figured that out though!
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bootgod



Joined: 04 Mar 2008
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 5:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was asked about the copy protection is on this cart, here is the rundown:

CNROM boards up to revision 5 have a couple spots next to the 74-161 chip for diodes. Normally CNROM games only use D0 & D1 to control CHR banking. However, D4 & D5 are connected to these diodes, which in turn are connected to a couple other CHR address lines. When these diodes are in place, the 161 must output the proper values on these 2 lines, otherwise it causes conflicts on the PPU bus which in turn mess up the graphics. The value needed is determined by the orientation of the diodes installed.

I've only seen this in a handful Famicom games (10-15) and never in any NES carts (well until now, sort of).

CNROM also has another protection method that can be used in games with less than 32KB of CHR. The unused 1 or 2 address lines are setup as chip enable lines in the ROM's mask. Whether they are active high or low is also determined by the mask. So in these cases, the game has to write the correct values to D0 and / or D1 on the 161 for the CHR chip to even be in usable state. Then in a games init code, it writes this value and then checks for a known value, and if it doesn't get what it expects, it goes into an endless loop.

As far as the plugin goes, it will be downloaded automatically with my copynes software as needed. Just FYI, there were a number of bugs in various original versions of plugins. I know some of my fixed versions have been included in official releases but I don't know how well they've been kept up to date. I've also had to make numerous plugins for the vast array of Famicom games.

I've been meaning to add a page to my site with all plugins, sources, and info on what they are for and how to use them. I have a million things going on right now, but it'll happen sometime! Smile
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B00daW
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 7:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

bootgod wrote:
As far as the plugin goes, it will be downloaded automatically with my copynes software as needed. Just FYI, there were a number of bugs in various original versions of plugins. I know some of my fixed versions have been included in official releases but I don't know how well they've been kept up to date. I've also had to make numerous plugins for the vast array of Famicom games.

I've been meaning to add a page to my site with all plugins, sources, and info on what they are for and how to use them. I have a million things going on right now, but it'll happen sometime! Smile

Great. Thanks for the prompt board and PM response.

So, in fact this is just another CNROM board revision type. The copy protection is made so that if the logic isn't situated properly on the PCB, the code will loop at init/boot and will not play the game. Neat! Very Happy So, to hack this (if you were a bootlegger) you could assume to trace to the reset vector and NOP the check instructions or change BNEs to BEQs and vice versa. Wink

Regarding plugin sources, it would be neat to have an option to include sources in the auto-download. But I have to apologize to the fact that I'm pretty ignorant about your databasing software's functions at the moment. Anyway, I respect your time and effort to the community.
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Skrybe
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Blitzwing wrote:
i'm going to try to "beaT" the proto and see if the super star force spam is in this verison as well,

The text for the Super Star Force ad is in the proto, though I dunno if it's actually used. On that note, the text for the Infinity level, which was (I think) removed from the US release, is still in both the proto and final versions.

bootgod wrote:
Anyways, glad you were able to get it dumped Skrybe. All that hassle with those diodes and the CHR ROM turned out to be the same as the US release Razz

Yeah, but the PRG ROM was different, so there's gotta be something interesting in there, it's just a matter of finding it! Thanks again for your help with the game, and I'll get those Fami games I mentioned to you soon.
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Blitzwing
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The infinity level is still in the original, basicly after you beat the game's 24 levels it recycles the old levels and calls each level "infinity"

the ad part shows up after you beat the omega level for a few seconds then the game continues on like the japanese version,

I'm good at the game but I'm having bad luck getting there on the proto without cheating Wink anyone want to whip up an infinate life code for it?
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dcescott



Joined: 11 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 5:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh man. I've been hit with my freelance work all week, just read some of the thread today. After playing the English version I'm gonna use the GG for sure.

Since it's icing over in DFW right now (spare me I used to live in the mountains with worse weather, bunch of drama queens and dumbasses behind the wheel out here) the return of my proto will be delayed.

Quick question, since these are written on Eproms, will they eventually erase?
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KlarthAilerion
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dcescott wrote:
Quick question, since these are written on Eproms, will they eventually erase?


They will eventually succumb to bit rot and no longer function, yes.
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Skrybe
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

But, you can write the rom dump to a new pair of EPROMs and swap the dead ones with those.
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B00daW
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 4:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Blitzwing wrote:
I'm good at the game but I'm having bad luck getting there on the proto without cheating Wink anyone want to whip up an infinate life code for it?

Infinite Lives - VZEAKTVG
Turbo Speed - VYSEIONN

Yeah... I tried to figure out an invincibility cheat (and almost got it) but it kept disabling control of the ship. I also made a code to disable all enemies, but you can't progress.

I also checked to see if there were any d-pad codes at the start screen, but it only looks for the start button.

Meh... Hope those are of use, Blitz.
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Blitzwing
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

thanks those codes helped a lot, although i'm getting almost good enough to almost get somewhere in the game now.

I managed to finish the game AND finally find clepfuckingpatra both text boxes show up just fine and the infinity levels play out as normal, the only thing i didn't test is if the score maxes out or flips over (and i'm not going to damnit)

what gets me is the game data is 24k larger then the japanese version but I really can't see anything differnt (beating the japanese version with getting clepfuckingpatra is my next task)

did hacking in that spam for super star soldier really take that much coding?

amusingly enough I checked the manual for the game and it has an ad for the game in the back as well.
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dcescott



Joined: 11 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 4:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am VERY uneducated on what is going on but also interested. I can see where you guys draw the line between collecting games and these protos.
I find this place by far a better read and valuable than other video game forums.
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ReyVGM



Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Posts: 91

PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 5:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

rbudrick: your childhood of being that one that beats game quickly and wanting to see all game endings mimics my childhood Razz

However, I kept doing that to this day, I don't know about you Smile


Quote:

The maps of 1608 and 2010 in http://n-beetle.net/jp/Game/SuperStarForce/ show places of hidden doors, which if you enter the rooms, someone will give a bird-like object to you. By collecting 4 of these, you can enter the dungeon of 330.


Anywhere else to get those Super Star Force (FC) maps?
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