Grond's Final Fantasy on real hardware

Discuss technical or other issues relating to programming the Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom, or compatible systems.

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AWal
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Grond's Final Fantasy Patched For Real Hardware

Post by AWal »

Bregald was correct about the initial state of the CHR-RAM vs the MMC3s CHR banking.

After a bit of code cave exploring, I managed to fit a routine into two spots that will set the correct initial values upon startup.

I have made a pair of patches available here, one to patch a PRG-ROM, and one to patch a NES file.
Newer patch available lower in this page.

[ed: New link]
[ed2: Patch has been fixed, and there is a new link available lower in this page]
Last edited by AWal on Sun Apr 13, 2014 6:43 pm, edited 2 times in total.
flagoss
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Re: Grond's Final Fantasy on real hardware

Post by flagoss »

Tested on a real cart on the real hardware and I confirm that it's working !! No more graphics glitchs.

I converted a SMB2 pcb to TNROM, burned the rom and it's wonderfull.

The only little bug that remain is the title screen. It's the same glith that appear when you do a RESET in Nintendulator.

The game is playable and saving work great.

Thanks AWal for the great work!!
lidnariq
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Re: Grond's Final Fantasy on real hardware

Post by lidnariq »

Hey AWal, would you mind posting (or if I reposted) the patch to the attachment interface on the forum here?
Last edited by lidnariq on Sat Apr 12, 2014 4:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Grond
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Re: Grond's Final Fantasy on real hardware

Post by Grond »

Nice fix, AWal! Unfortunately it triggers my crude "authorship protection" (for lack a better term) which should make the game crash when entering a battle (odd how no one seems to have noticed yet). If you hadn't overwritten the "Grond1911" right before the vectors it would have worked fine.

If anyone wants to repair the patch themselves before a fixed version is posted, just open it in a hex editor and change 0x3E-46 from "FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF" to "47 72 6F 6E 64 31 39 31 31" or alternatively (if you haven't already applied the patch) delete those nine FFs and change 0x2D from 19 to 10.

Sorry for any inconvenience to anyone who may have already made a cart with this (not to admit fault).
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AWal
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Grond's Final Fantasy on real hardware [fixed] [solved]

Post by AWal »

Oh nice, wasn't expecting a response from Grond himself...

I actually just figured out that you had a signature check in place (debug caught reads to the spot)...And I fully understand why one would want to have something of that sort in the file.

As expected, I have uploaded a fixed version of the patch that can be obtained here.
flagoss
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Re: Grond's Final Fantasy on real hardware

Post by flagoss »

Well sorry for having only taken 5min to test the patch on real hardware. Will desolder the eprom tonight and test the new version !
flagoss
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Re: Grond's Final Fantasy on real hardware

Post by flagoss »

Just to let everyone know, the patch is working well. There is some graphical glitch remaining at the title screen but nothing major. I finished the game and it is 100% playable.

Thanks to AWal for the patch !
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