Banjo Tooie for N64 Finally Cracked!

[saxamo]

Title : Banjo Tooie USA Crack and Save Fix
Start-date : 10.20.2000
Release-date : 09.23.2011
Coder : LaC
Type : Crack+SaveFix
Platform(s) : N64 APS format)

Release-note :
I'm back! This crack was started in 2000 but I never finished due to real life and almost 0 interest. This game's protection is very similar to Jet Force Gemini, except much worse. It uses an unknown feature that was introduced in the 6105 CIC chip.

Jet Force Gemini was the first to use this feature even though Zelda: O.O.T. was the first game to have the chip. I can only guess the reason was because it was requested by Rare to use in JFG, they must not have had time or didn't care on Zelda. Basically the new feature was an excryption key. You send the chip a 128bit string and it responds with a 128bit key.

On JFG they only sent 1 string which was easy enough to write a crack for. Back when I first worked on the Banjo Tooie crack I noticed they sent lots of strings and got lots of keys back that they used to decrypt the data they were loading from the cart. I was determined to figure out how the key generation worked. So I spent many weeks trying to figure it out. Eventually I gave up and started recording the decryption keys as I played through the game. I stopped at about 43 because I got bored and real life got in the way. Apparently there were only 224 left to find. I never did figure the actual algorithm out so this crack had the final version with all 267 strings, which Tooie and Azimer found.

When I made this, I also challenged some dudes in #n64dev to find the actual algo. X-Scale figured it out here: http://goo.gl/Ub9FG So this crack actually includes the algo instead of a lookup table. Please note this release date is over a year ago because I was too lazy to send Acey the crack to actually release. Ha. I gave it to some people to test and no one leaked it? WTF?

Special thanks:
Acey for 64scener!
Marshall for the 64drive.

Jovis

Via 64scener.com

Banjo tooie was a weird game. I mean rare must have had the good ish in those days because it was all over the place. But especially in copy protection! This may be the last game to get cracked for the N64, and for good reason! It never worked on any emu and now you can play to your hearts delight. Hurray for math! I'm going to check it on Mupen64Plus AE.

 

[FAST6191]

Nice, I will probably play the XBLA version when I get around to it but good to know stuff like this still happens.

 

[the_randomizer]

It worked on Project 64 just fine. The copy protection prevented it working on flash carts like the Everdrive 64, though.

 

[raulpica]

It worked on Project 64 just fine. The copy protection prevented it working on flash carts like the Everdrive 64, though.

I guess that emulators used crude hacks to skip the copy protection.

The most important thing is that the game can now finally be played on real hardware with an N64 copier/flashcard.

 

[the_randomizer]

I guess that emulators used crude hacks to skip the copy protection.

The most important thing is that the game can now finally be played on real hardware with an N64 copier/flashcard.

The game wasn't without its share of problems on the emulator though. Maybe when Wii64 is updated before the next millennium we can have a chance to play it once more.

 

[Gahars]

Ah, good to see this game was cracked, too-ie.

 

[DinohScene]

12 years have passed.

It almost was the next Duke Nukem.
I'm glad it got cracked.
All I got to do now is get an Everdrive and play it again <3

 

[raulpica]

The game wasn't without its share of problems on the emulator though. Maybe when Wii64 is updated before the next millennium we can have a chance to play it once more.

That's just N64 emulators for you. Rydian will probably say that I'm wrong again (we probably have really different concepts of "acceptable"), but I do find that N64 emulators for PC are seriously lacking in accuracy, and most of the emulation is just hacks 'n' more hacks. The only games "correctly" emulated are the major ones since the authors probably got loads of bug reports about them.

Just try to play one of the less known games and you'll get wrong graphics 'n crap everywhere

 

[the_randomizer]

That's just N64 emulators for you. Rydian will probably say that I'm wrong again (we probably have really different concepts of "acceptable", but I do find that N64 emulators for PC are seriously lacking in accuracy, and most of the emulation is just hacks 'n' more hacks. The only games "correctly" emulated are the major ones since the authors probably got loads of bug reports about them.

Just try to play one of the less known games and you'll get wrong graphics 'n crap everywhere

They are lacking in accuracy, and the one that probably gets it close would be Mupen 64 Plus, or Mednafen, not sure, but the more accurate an emulator, the more exorbitant the system requirements; sacrifices must be made somewhere. If I could only get back my "donation" from the still-on-life-support Project 64 1.7 beta. I won't express why I hate Mupen 64 2.0 plus here, as...I had some unpleasant...well either way, glad there's interest in N64 emulation and ROM dumping.

 

[RodrigoDavy]

That's just N64 emulators for you. Rydian will probably say that I'm wrong again (we probably have really different concepts of "acceptable", but I do find that N64 emulators for PC are seriously lacking in accuracy, and most of the emulation is just hacks 'n' more hacks. The only games "correctly" emulated are the major ones since the authors probably got loads of bug reports about them.

Just try to play one of the less known games and you'll get wrong graphics 'n crap everywhere

Totally agree with you. I still can't play Pokemon Snap because of some weird bugs in emulation. Resident Evil 2 is also hard to get to work.

 

[callmebob]

The game works on the z if you use Donkey Kong as a boot cart, but it may have saved to the cartridge itself. Can´t remember. Will try this later to see if the game works using Mario as the boot cart. Looking forward to dusting off the old hardware. Thank LaC, glad to hear your still with us!

 

[lovewiibrew]

Patched my Banjo Tooie game with the crack and plays perfect on the ED64!

 

[loco365]

Might download it and play it then. My friend has it on the N64 and it was pretty fun.

 

[Rydian]

That's just N64 emulators for you. Rydian will probably say that I'm wrong again (we probably have really different concepts of "acceptable", but I do find that N64 emulators for PC are seriously lacking in accuracy, and most of the emulation is just hacks 'n' more hacks. The only games "correctly" emulated are the major ones since the authors probably got loads of bug reports about them.

Just try to play one of the less known games and you'll get wrong graphics 'n crap everywhere

lolwut

"Acceptable" and "accurate" are two entirely different things, man.

It's well-known that N64 emulation is inaccurate (just take a look at the PJ64 game help file to see how many have graphical issues or need a setting tweak)... but then again we didn't get an SNES emulator that could display the shadows in Air Strike Patrol until ~2012 with BSNES, but people had considered SNES emulation acceptable for years beforehand.

 

[callmebob]

meh. Doesn´t seem to be working on the Z. At least not using Mario as a boot card. Tried with and without the boot emulator. Also tried default and 6105 CIC´s with no luck. If I´m right the patch is useless here if I have to use Donkey Kong as a boot card regardless. Hope some other Z users are still out there.

 

[Eerpow]

We really need more N64 VC, emulation for that system is seriously flawed most of the time otherwise.

 

[SnAQ]

Ahh, I good old Lac :-)
I remember when The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask was released, the first ROM to hit the scene wasn't dumped properly and it looked like it was a 512Mbit Roms which my Doctor V64 couldn't play.
But it wasn't, and i somehow managed to beta test the crack for the game :-)
Check the intro...

 

[Bladexdsl]

it's been working in 1964 perfectly for years and in HD!

The game wasn't without its share of problems on the emulator though. Maybe when Wii64 is updated before the next millennium we can have a chance to play it once more.

not64 will have it playing perfect before them!

 

[the_randomizer]

We really need more N64 VC, emulation for that system is seriously flawed most of the time otherwise.

Is the VC really that accurate? Star Fox 64 had many glitches as I recall, incorrect colors when the ship gets hit, framerate issues, etc, but I could be wrong.

 

[Eerpow]

Is the VC really that accurate? Star Fox 64 had many glitches as I recall, incorrect colors when the ship gets hit, framerate issues, etc, but I could be wrong.

I didn't play SF64 on Wii VC but I can't imagine it having any major issues, did you buy it or did you install it yourself? It might be a region problem or something.
Most games I played put the PC emulated ones to shame. Not to mention how some games like Pokémon Snap are even playable in the first place.
VC is still not 100% accurate of course.