[released] Windjammers - Let me play longer romhack

[Boomchild]

Hey folks!

I had a bit of free time this weekend, so I put together a small ROM hack (small compared to the Magician Lord one ^^) that fixes a few things that have always bugged me about Windjammers. Every time I play, I’m just getting into it and boom, the round’s already over. So this little hack lets you tweak a couple of gameplay options:



On this screen:

Press C to change the round duration (30s, 45s, 60s, 75s, 90s, or Infinite)
Press D to change the number of points needed to win (12, 15, 20, 30, 50, or 95)

Bonus:

Removed all menu timers so you can take all the time you want
Got rid of the strobe flash that KILLS my old man eyes before every match

I haven’t written the full readme or code notes yet, but the patch itself is done — you can grab it here: https://github.com/Boomchil/wjammers-lmpl

Have fun!

 

[HornheaDD]

Ha nicely done man. Ive got those same issues with the game. Cant wait to check it out.

 

[lithy]

Awesome!

Hmm, I'm not getting the match time setting to show. I'll double check the patch but it seemed to apply ok. Any ideas? I am on Freeplay, I noticed you aren't, maybe I'll try turning that off and try again. Edit: Tried with freeplay off, still doesn't show the round duration time. I'll try to rebuild the rom tomorrow.

I'm using a Backbit cart.

 

[Boomchild]

When you press C, does the value change ? Have you patched the s1 rom ?

Also, what is the time limit when you launch a game ?

 

[lithy]

When you press C, does the value change ? Have you patched the s1 rom ?

Also, what is the time limit when you launch a game ?

The game is at 55 second rounds, if I press C a couple times blind it is still at 55. Changing soft dips also doesn't change the time. The points setting seems to work fine although I can't allow enough points in the time limit to check some of the higher values.

I did both the P and S roms patches, I think... but I will try to rebuild the rom tonight. Do you have hash values for the P and S patched and unpatched so I can double check that way?

Thanks!

 

[Neo Alec]

The original game allows you to set the round time up to 99 in the soft dip settings.

 

[Boomchild]

The game is at 55 second rounds, if I press C a couple times blind it is still at 55. Changing soft dips also doesn't change the time. The points setting seems to work fine although I can't allow enough points in the time limit to check some of the higher values.

I did both the P and S roms patches, I think... but I will try to rebuild the rom tonight. Do you have hash values for the P and S patched and unpatched so I can double check that way?

Thanks!

There you go :

065-p1.p1 : 5532e9ee163007ae380b524abc14d7e71b1f5780553eb96cf6b80c3fe3ed2670
065-s1.s1 : 18d9eedb64a84be30391215ac1e9cc02e338048c1fe32df5ff2896ac855b2202

The original game allows you to set the round time up to 99 in the soft dip settings.

Yes, but that's not very user friendly, and you cannot set infinite time sadly

 

[kernow]

@NeoCverA can you please beg for this release for you can cover it on your YouTube channel you inept Werther's crunching lardass

 

[lithy]

Ok, I got those same values for SHA256 on my patched files. Below are the SHA-1s I got as well for reference

Unpatched P1: 5DA574E906974FAC92BB2F49BDEEA257C014A897
Patched P1: CFEA13FA5567637EBCC913C288C22455D53606EF

Unpatched S1: 86D3B3BB5414F43E4D3B7A2AF0DB23CC71CE8412
Patched S1: 749565F96AAD882A1C235EEC92A135715D669E1E

I loaded it up in MAME and it works correctly, unzipped that same file to a folder on the Backbit and it is doing the same thing, so must be some kind of compatibility issue.

 

[Boomchild]

Damn, this makes no sense, as the code is exactly the same as the points needed to win (only the address changes), and this one works for you.

Anyway, I'll try to change the logic and get back to you. Thank you for you feedback !

Edit : can you tell me which Bios do you use ? It might be related.

 

[lithy]

Damn, this makes no sense, as the code is exactly the same as the points needed to win (only the address changes), and this one works for you.

Anyway, I'll try to change the logic and get back to you. Thank you for you feedback !

Edit : can you tell me which Bios do you use ? It might be related.

I am using a US bios with the Backbit, I can swap it to a Unibios later tonight and try to change the region to see if it makes a difference. I think Mame is using a Euro bios (only 1 coin slot) but I don't really use Mame much so I'm not certain.

 

[Neo Alec]

@lithy Did you try clearing the backup ram?

 

[lithy]

Ok more info, Unibios in and it works like it should on any regions, including USA



Swap back to the stock US bios (which is version SP-U2), cleared the backup RAM and it is back to missing the Round Duration adjustment. Strange. Swap in a SP-S2 stock Euro bios, same problem. Use Backbit menu to change regions including Japan, same issue.

I went back to MAME and it seems to work correctly with both SP-U2 and SP-S2 bios. So I'm thinking there is some kind of strange compatibility thing happening with the Backbit cart.

Hope that info helps.

Still excited, got to play a match on infinite time to 95 points.

 

[NeoCverA]

@NeoCverA can you please beg for this release for you can cover it on your YouTube channel you inept Werther's crunching lardass

Butterscotch candies you stupid cunt.

 

[NeoCverA]

Hey folks!

I had a bit of free time this weekend, so I put together a small ROM hack (small compared to the Magician Lord one ^^) that fixes a few things that have always bugged me about Windjammers. Every time I play, I’m just getting into it and boom, the round’s already over. So this little hack lets you tweak a couple of gameplay options:



On this screen:

Press C to change the round duration (30s, 45s, 60s, 75s, 90s, or Infinite)
Press D to change the number of points needed to win (12, 15, 20, 30, 50, or 95)

Bonus:

Removed all menu timers so you can take all the time you want
Got rid of the strobe flash that KILLS my old man eyes before every match

I haven’t written the full readme or code notes yet, but the patch itself is done — you can grab it here: https://github.com/Boomchil/wjammers-lmpl

Have fun!

I created a .neo with the patched rom and it doesn't display 12 or 15 for the points - just blank with button presses.

*EDIT* nvm, after a reset - it displays correctly. Thanks!