Homebrew Discussion SNES Online - Mod Discussion

[18Phoenix]

Oh, I've the same error with the new 1.1.3.9.

 

[DarkAkuma]

Do you have a good example to test if the new features work in contrast to use the previous way with only 2 edits ?

If you want a specific game suggestion, Chrono Trigger.

More general? Set the first byte of the Product ID with any game, to something that isn't a "W".

That's the only new feature of the latest hack over my previous hack and the RSA hack. (This update was primarily about the new distribution method.)

What version of .net framework do I need for this?

.NET Framework 4.5.2 is what it targets when I build it.

EDIT:

Try redownloading it. It wasn't working for me, so I rebuilt it. It worked, so I packaged it up and reuploaded it.

Not sure whats up. Haven't seen that issue before...

 

[18Phoenix]

Try redownloading it. It wasn't working for me, so I rebuilt it. It worked, so I packaged it up and reuploaded it.
Not sure whats up. Haven't seen that issue before...

Works fine now - thanks
So is it more for a better handling or could there be roms running using the new sfrom tool (without having a special patch) that didn't work with the previous method ?

 

[IcedFreon]

Works fine now - thanks
So is it more for a better handling or could there be roms running using the new sfrom tool (without having a special patch) that didn't work with the previous method ?

Hey 18pheonix can I message you somehow? I have some questions for you

 

[Fewtch22]

Also, I apologize if this has been asked already, but does this Unlock allow those of us who are banned from online to play SNES games? I tried a little while ago to do so but this was a direct barrier.

 

[DarkAkuma]

Also, I apologize if this has been asked already, but does this Unlock allow those of us who are banned from online to play SNES games? I tried a little while ago to do so but this was a direct barrier.

I personally cant answer that for certain. I can only say that none of the individual hacks that make up the full unlock are specifically designed to allow banned players to use the app.

I would think you could still do offline play of the games. Both the emu and the games exist on your system, and should not require a online connection. Having a online connection should only effect online multiplayer.

I know during development and testing it was mentioned to me that I don't need to concern myself with making the emu appear legit for online service, as you cant or shouldn't be connecting online anyway. Suggesting you can play offline. As for how Nintendos bans work... like if they leave something on your system to disable stuff like this, even if they no longer let you connect to their service. I have no clue.

All I can say is, I'd be open to finding and making such a hack to enable the emu on banned switches if needed. I'm not sure where I'd start atm however.

 

[18Phoenix]

@DarkAkuma
Just to understand it right. The new feature is that I don't need to use a W* Product Id.
So if I patch a rom the usual way with previous sfrom tool versions, it would run aswell.
Correct ? Even without footer ? Or is Megaman X2 just a special exception ?

I patched Megaman X2 with sfrom tool 1.1.3.1 and it works now without adding an extra footer.
On the other hand if I use the new 1.1.3.9 it adds a special footer and it assigns a W* Product ID, correct ?

 

[18Phoenix]

Goof Troop has the known "darkness" problem:
Transparency issue in dark rooms. Everything is visible but shouldn't be.
Robin64's solution for hakchi was:
"That offset in the footer is set to 15 for HiROM and 14 for LoROM.
Goof Troop is a LoROM but hakchi is setting it to be a HiROM."

But the rom like this leads to a crash.
How could we fix it perhaps, any ideas ? Is there a kind of Lo-/ HiROM switch ?

before / after :

 

[demitrius]

The Goof Troop issue isn't fixed with the change of a byte, afaik. The hi/lorom issue was something that occured early on when hacking SNES Classic and should not be an issue anymore

I believe it is a general emulation issue and require a patch of some kind for it.

 

[18Phoenix]

The Goof Troop issue isn't fixed with the change of a byte, afaik. The hi/lorom issue was something that occured early on when hacking SNES Classic and should not be an issue anymore
I believe it is a general emulation issue and require a patch of some kind for it.

I haven't found a patch. And only this little byte change fixed the graphical issue at that time.

 

[demitrius]

I'm not understanding you. How do you know that change fixes the issue when you just said the game crashes?

The issue you are referencing back then was that Hakchi was flagging that game incorrectly as a HiROM game when it is not one. It was fixed, so it flags it as a LoROM game, allowing the game to load. But there is still a transparency issue in the cave rooms.

The same issue happens when you use DarkAkuma's tool as well.

There is no "patch" for it - I am saying one would need to be made to help resolve this emulation issue.

 

[DarkAkuma]

Just to understand it right. The new feature is that I don't need to use a W* Product Id.
So if I patch a rom the usual way with previous sfrom tool versions, it would run aswell.
Correct ? Even without footer ?

Yes. That's the new feature. I'm not sure how that is confusing and I'm having to answer it over and over.

Or is Megaman X2 just a special exception ?

I patched Megaman X2 with sfrom tool 1.1.3.1 and it works now without adding an extra footer.
On the other hand if I use the new 1.1.3.9 it adds a special footer and it assigns a W* Product ID, correct ?

No... The new version of the tool simply allows you to output the old way as a SNESC format .sfrom, OR a Switch format .sfrom. By choice when saving.

If you select the option to output with a footer ("as Switch .sfrom") there will be no Product ID involved at all. Product IDs are only used with the other formats.

Goof Troop

That game has a known issue. I checked the list I've linked several times here before. "Transparency issue in dark rooms. Everything is visible but shouldn't be."

As demitrius said, the ROM Map byte does not have anything to do with that. I don't know who you are quoting, or the context of what they said, but it sounds like a solution to an unrelated issue.

If you want there's a ROM Map option plain as day in the General tab of the Advanced window in the tool. You could try setting LoROM there. Though its probably already set.

If that doesn't help, like it probably wont, I have no solution to the issue for you. Outside of maybe playing around with the Param50 flags and seeing if you can find one, or a combination of them that works.

 

[RadMcFist]

@DarkAkuma
Just to understand it right. The new feature is that I don't need to use a W* Product Id.
So if I patch a rom the usual way with previous sfrom tool versions, it would run aswell.
Correct ? Even without footer ? Or is Megaman X2 just a special exception ?

I patched Megaman X2 with sfrom tool 1.1.3.1 and it works now without adding an extra footer.
On the other hand if I use the new 1.1.3.9 it adds a special footer and it assigns a W* Product ID, correct ?

You seem to be very confused. There's no reason to use to use the SNESC sfrom format anymore on Switch. It's very good to have and maybe it'll come in handy again in the future, but DarkAkuma already made Star Ocean and Street Fighter Alpha 2 work with the Switch's sfrom format, and those were the only two games that required the SNESC format to run. Mega Man X2 ran better in that format only because at that time that was the easiest way to apply the necessary patch, but since DarkAkuma updated the SFROM Tool, there's no need to do that anymore. Just use the tool, choose to patch it and save it as a switch sfrom, just like every other game. The Product ID letter "W" thing is obviously exclusive to the SNESC sfrom format as well so it's better if you just ignore it now that that's been taken care of as well.

So, to make it short, as long as you have DarkAkuma's full unlock cheat activated, you don't have to use SNESC sfroms (unless something comes up that we don't know about yet) and pretend the "W" thing never happened.

This whole thing is easier than ever. Throw a good rom at the sfrom tool, save it as a switch sfrom and that's it. If the game runs with issues, experiment a bit with IDs or params and patches. If there's an improvement, report it so that others can enjoy. That's it.

Goof Troop has the known "darkness" problem:
Transparency issue in dark rooms. Everything is visible but shouldn't be.
Robert's solution for hakchi was:
"That offset in the footer is set to 15 for HiROM and 14 for LoROM.
Goof Troop is a LoROM but hakchi is setting it to be a HiROM."

But the rom like this leads to a crash.
How could we fix it perhaps, any ideas ? Is there a kind of Lo-/ HiROM switch ?

before / after :
View attachment 182559 View attachment 182558

Like others have said, what you mention is a known issue of this game with this emulator and was expected to be present here as well, it just wasn't verified yet (thanks for that!). There's no solution for it. I assume the "Robert" you mention is actually Robin64 and what he was talking about was a completely unrelated issue that was resolved years ago and isn't related to the Switch app in anyway since we don't use hakchi (you went and used hakchi here? ... why?)

I haven't found a patch. And only this little byte change fixed the graphical issue at that time.

What are you talking about?

Edit: Oh wait, are you talking about earlier in the thread where someone changed parameter 63 to 03 and it fixed a small graphic issue with Bugs Bunny? Jesus, man, when you talk in abstracts, you go all in. That's so completely different and unrelated to what you were talking about that it took me reading your post 10 times and thinking about it for an hour to realize what it was about, and demitrius too it seems. The Bugs Bunny thing was someone messing with switch sfroms' footer parameters and achieving a surprising, positive result (It hasn't worked in other games but that doesn't mean it's not worth trying here and there). Nothing to do with using hakchi.

 

[DarkAkuma]

What are you talking about?

Edit: Oh wait, are you talking about earlier in the thread where someone changed parameter 63 to 03 and it fixed a small graphic issue with Bugs Bunny? Jesus, man, when you talk in abstracts, you go all in. That's so completely different and unrelated to what you were talking about that it took me reading your post 10 times and thinking about it for an hour to realize what it was about, and demitrius too it seems. The Bugs Bunny thing was someone messing with switch sfroms' footer parameters and achieving a surprising, positive result (It hasn't worked in other games but that doesn't mean it's not worth trying here and there). Nothing to do with using hakchi.

I don't think that's what hes talking about, else he wouldn't have hakchi on his brain at all. I think he probably just googled "goof troop" with some combination of describing the issue, and found an old forum or reddit thread talking about it. Further, I suspect that he confused someone proposing a solution to it not booting then, with a separate discussion of the transparency issue.

My SFROM research happened over the course of months after the SNES Classic came out. So there was an amount of time there where it was the wild west, and well, Cluster made several bad decisions even in spite of knowledge existing to say otherwise. Even my tool is no stranger to at times having incorrectly detected a games ROM Map, and thus not being able to make a bootable copy of that game.

 

[18Phoenix]

I don't think that's what hes talking about, else he wouldn't have hakchi on his brain at all. I think he probably just googled "goof troop" with some combination of describing the issue, and found an old forum or reddit thread talking about it. Further, I suspect that he confused someone proposing a solution to it not booting then, with a separate discussion of the transparency issue.

That's correct. And I was talking about Robin64, not Robert, right.

Sorry to confuse you all. English is not my native language, I think that could lead to the one or other missunderstanding, too.

I though that was a solution for the transparency issue, so it was only for booting, ok.
I don't mix that all. I found some old patched which work for the Switch aswell.
The compatibility is very good anyway, so we can be happy.
Just some few things to fix or optimize, but only in some exceptions.
But the hacked games with the translations and interesting selfmade stages often don't work, but I don't think that will change.

 

[DarkAkuma]

But the hacked games with the translations and interesting selfmade stages often don't work, but I don't think that will change.

Yea. I wouldn't count on it. It's not impossible though. The new params for the Switch footer format bring options that have not existed before, and those params are not all understood yet. One could quite possibly lead to enabling extended memory access, and that's the biggest thing preventing a lot of hacks and translations from working. Being expanded beyond 4 MegaBytes into ExHiROMs.

I do still look through the asm, and try to make new sense of things. Param63 may allow ExROMs to work, and its just that we havent combined it with the right other param so far. For example, it may be primarily used just to tell the emu where to look in the ROM for the internal header, but not do anything for telling the emu how much ram to allocate for the game. 6A is odd and is being hard to pin down. At times it makes me think it might be for size allocation, but the values just don't match up. The value 0x38 gets converted by the emu to 0x3800, and added with other numbers... and the whole function sets variables based on similar, but different numbers from the preset ID. IDK. I haven't been able to make sense of it yet. 53 is checked in the same function, but its purpose seems redundant and unclear. 50 is a collection of bit flags that could have a wide array of effects... some of which could be for allocating memory. Then there's 74 too, which seems to be a control byte for usage of the params. In a way I cant define and document yet. I just know its values from 1-7 are all individually checked at times, and based off that other params may/may not be checked.

There's a lot going on here to still be figured out. I just need to find a footing so I can have a hope of proposing tests that look for specific/distinct results. Until then, please, I encourage people to experiment and mess around with those params in SFROM tool. Find some interesting results from setting those params to whatever!

Like for example, RadMcFist found that if you set flag 21 of Param 50, it causes an audio glitch with Aladdin. Interesting? To me, yea. Useful for anything specific? No. But combined with other such results... it may help start painting a picture...

This is where I really wish I had a Switch. With the SNESC I was able to test every little idea I had, or run hundreds of tests to find and note results. With the switch... it's just not remotely reasonable to require others to run tests for me and report results. Its WAY slower, confusing, and wastes more than just my time.

If anyone has a spare switch lying around that they don't want... =p

 

[DarkAkuma]

Since things have been quiet here, I'll update you guys with another report.

Nothing new with the Full Unlock or SFROM Tool. I've been busy working on other things.

The compatibility list is something I'm picking away at still. I've rethought it, and decided I'm going to try making it a Switch+SNESC+3DS+WiiU compatibility list. Though I'm just focused on the formatting/presentation and the Switch/3DS aspects atm. SNESC will be later, and WiiU much later as injection for that is very "meh" still.

The important thing I've been working on is something completely new. In my further efforts to help make the barrier to entry for modding and customizing your SNES Online installation easier, I realized there was a need for a new tool. Something to build/manage your database so you don't have to do it manually in a text editor. So... I've gone and made one!

While developing it, I realized that this treads the same territory as a program I wanted to make in the future. So I decided to keep its goals open ended even though I'm just focusing on Switch+SNES for it right now. I'll try to support NES Online databases soon too, if it doesn't support them already.

Usage should be pretty strait-forward and user friendly. All the completely un-nessacery database options are not listed. Editing text and images are done by double clicking that selection in the list. You can select new box art/details images, but for now only if they are in xtx.z format.

Here's a preview image! =)

 

[18Phoenix]

Very nice view in the future
Would be nice to have the possibility to categorize the games in groups to be able to sort each group for its own.
F.e. I use normal, jap, hacks, and I sort each group alphabetical. So "just" one more column for the group, but a bigger sort algorithm.

The pics shouldn't be a problem, first using nconvert to resize them, then NvnTexpkg.exe + zdrop.exe for generate the needed xtx.z files.
Just a question for horizontal or vertical is needed for US/EU or JAP covers.
For the screenshots I use the original res, I wouldn't increase them to 400x300, that isn't needed in my opinion.
Increasing a small pic with such a small res as source doesn't increase the quality. And the small pics look perfect, even on a huge mega TV.
Drag&drop would be awesome.

 

[DarkAkuma]

As far as image support goes, yea. That's the idea. Other tools exists to convert from normal formats to xtx. So its not a huge priority for now. But I will be adding support for converting from those normal formats to xtx at some point. The program can already read xtx files obviously, since its displaying the images. I would just need to write code to convert the other way. I'm just trying to prioritize.

I'll add drag and drop eventually. But atm its not a priority.

Right now I just want to get the program finished in a basic usable form, that's easy to understand and use, and looks good. To that end, I may not be done tweaking the layout just yet.

 

[DarkAkuma]

I've got another preview image!

I've been hard at work on the program, trying to fine tune it to be as good as can be before at first release. The major difference is, of course, the layout. I didn't like the layout in the first pic. It was a lot of wasted space having columns for everything. Simply a tiny checkbox for an option with an absurdly long name? You get a huge column and not much filling it up, for example.

This layout looks more presentable, and works for just displaying the info alone. Let alone the fact that everything you see is editable in place! There are more columns that collectively contain EVERY option available in the database files. Those columns can be hidden/shown as desired. Only just the more important ones are visible in the window by default.

I also added NES Online titlesdb support, complete with its unique options like FDS settings and startup state.

Of note, I've been well informed enough to know that most users will not have the stock games on their PC. So for most, stock games in this list will not display their proper art. You MAY still want to edit their database info though... IDK. But regardless, you can select a option in the view menu to hide all the stock games and only see your custom ones. If it really bothers you, you can probably find someone to create a package of the stock game art and place it in the cache folder for the program to load up.

As updates to NES/SNES Online come out, I'm sure there will be new lists of whats considered a stock game. As such, you will have some ability to update that on your own. So its at least future proof in that regard. If/when N64 Online comes out, well, its not currently ready for that, but should be easily updateble by me.

Not much else to say for now. Just figured a progress update would be appreciated. I'm not sure when this will be done and ready for release. But I'm hoping within the week!