ROM Hack GBA Doom wad conversions (open for suggestions!)

[GValiente]

Thanks a lot for your work .

 

[jeffyTheHomebrewer]

Would it be possible to just make a script to make a WAD into a patch?

 

[Nikokaro]

Below I report (with my poor, limping english) some brief considerations on NMD wad: for me, an excellent alternative to the original Doom; and even better!

Thus, this wad author describes, underestimating, his creation: "A deliberately underdetailed replacement of all of DooM, following the themes of each episode."
Far from being "underdetailed", the creative use of various combinations of classic Doom textures make it pleasant to look at, diversified and very suitable to play on gba: moreover small and limited environments with a low number of enemies, but well placed.

The structure of each map (at least as far as I've seen), and the right, balanced alternation of open and closed environments, stairs, switches, platforms, puzzles, reveal intelligence and good taste. And as far as I've played, no slowdown whatsoever.

Ultimately, I must admit that this PrBoom, now with all these megawads available, has become my favorite port (which I believe does not interest anyone), also because DS Doom (PrBoom port on DS) crashes randomly during the saves (if using custom wads), an issue that its author does not seem to want, or manage, to correct.

Edit: I finished the first episode and Map 8 is its excellent ending.
At its end, despite 5 or more minotaurs at the same time, the graphics remain fluid, without jerks or slowdowns.

P.S. And of course, if anyone else who downloaded these wads could make an effort to leave some feedback, reviews or comments, it wouldn't hurt; they would probably be better than my platitudes.
And they would partially repay our benefactor's efforts, thus proving that these are appreciated.

 

[Bazooka_Face]

Alright i sort of fixed up hell revealed, map 09 has less slowdown, (but still plenty) and I replaced the imp trap at the end that spawns 200 imps, with a spawner of 10 or so imps with a spider mastermind and a cyberdemon to pack the same punch the horde of imps was going to give (it was a key trap anyways, so its supposed to be almost unfair). Map 11 runs excellently now, which before it crashed upon boot, and still retains the excellent challenge that map gives, while having over 200 things removed from the map+ geometry and light sector reduction/removal. I still didnt get to map 13 or the rest yet, but they can benefit from better performance if I carefully select and remove enemies like the other stages.

 

[Bazooka_Face]

Here is a quick conversion of perditions gate for gba. Tell me if anything crashes, and on what stage, and i will fix it! Also, here is sinergy, I dont even know when I did this one but same goes for this one, if anything is wrong, let me know!

 

[Bazooka_Face]

HOLY CRAP, SINERGY IS REEEAAALLLY GOOD!!!!

 

[Nikokaro]

...Map 11 runs excellently now, which before it crashed upon boot..

Very strange. On real hardware (slot2 DS Lite) this map worked fine, apart from a few slowdowns, and never crashed!
Instead map14, which you have not yet modified, is the one that gives more problems (and where I stopped), even in this version.

What do you use to test converted games, maybe a gba emulator on PC?
Or maybe, do you try these wads, before converting them, with Chocolate Doom, Boom (or other Vanilla Doom engine)?

I briefly tried Perditions Gate, but it should work just fine as, if I remember correctly, I played it 25+ years ago even with the original dos version (through command line parameters) of Doom: those were the days...

 

[Bazooka_Face]

Very strange. On real hardware (slot2 DS Lite) this map worked fine, apart from a few slowdowns, and never crashed!
Instead map14, which you have not yet modified, is the one that gives more problems (and where I stopped), even in this version.

What do you use to test converted games, maybe a gba emulator on PC?
Or maybe, do you try these wads, before converting them, with Chocolate Doom, Boom (or other Vanilla Doom engine)?

I briefly tried Perditions Gate, but it should work just fine as, if I remember correctly, I played it 25+ years ago even with the original dos version (through command line parameters) of Doom: those were the days...

I used MGBA, and it said failed to cache 200 bytes, or something like that, I also tried it on my everdrive, and I got the same error. Is your flashcard running in ds mode instead of gba mode? If not, maybe your cart has extra ram in it! That would be so neat to have, maybe alien vandetta will run unmodified on your flash cart!

 

[Nikokaro]

I used MGBA, and it said failed to cache 200 bytes, or something like that, I also tried it on my everdrive, and I got the same error. Is your flashcard running in mds mode? If not, maybe your cart has extra ram in it! That would be so neat to have, maybe alien vandetta will run unmodified on your flash cart!

I don't remember map11 well, but I got to map14 without cheating, so without skipping any maps.
The map14 is the only one that immediately shows strong slowdowns and tearing graphics.

The amazing thing is that I use the poorest gba flashcart that exists (SuperCard microSD) without ever having encountered any crashes with these Megawads.
This thing is inexplicable to me!
And I don't know what this "mds mode" you ask about is.

P.S. I took some (bad and quick) photos to prove that the map11 works: maybe you will recognize some environments.
I got there, this time, through cheat code.

Edit:
Out of curiosity, via cheat I jumped to the map15, and the situation is the same, if not worse: very slow and jerky movements of the player and enemies, with alternating freezes of a few seconds, but never crashes.

 

[Bazooka_Face]

I don't remember map11 well, but I got to map14 without cheating, so without skipping any maps.
The map14 is the only one that immediately shows strong slowdowns and tearing graphics.


How do you have a boarder around the game in gba mode?

The amazing thing is that I use the poorest gba flashcart that exists (SuperCard microSD) without ever having encountered any crashes with these Megawads.
This thing is inexplicable to me!
And I don't know what this "mds mode" you ask about is.

P.S. I took some (bad and quick) photos to prove that the map11 works: maybe you will recognize some environments.
I got there, this time, through cheat code.

View attachment 260881

 

[Nikokaro]

...Is your flashcard running in ds mode instead of gba mode?...

I see that you have corrected what you wrote earlier (mds mode).

As I have already specified, I use the slot2 of the DS, obviously via gba flashcart (SuperCard, as I already said).
The only peculiarity is that I launch this gba-flashcart by first accessing DS-flashcart (r4) software (YSMenu), and from here I launch the SuperCard with the possibility of having a custom, colored frame around the gba game.

Could it be that by doing so, the ram of the (main) processor dedicated to DS games, is used for GBA games too?
I do not know; I leave the answer to those who know the subject better than me.

 

[Bazooka_Face]

I see that you have corrected what you wrote earlier (mds mode).

As I have already specified, I use the slot2 of the DS, obviously via gba flashcart (SuperCard, as I already said).
The only peculiarity is that I launch this gba-flashcart by first accessing DS-flashcart (r4) software (YSMenu), and from here I launch the SuperCard with the possibility of having a custom, colored frame around the gba game.

Could it be that by doing so, the ram of the (main) processor dedicated to DS games, is used for GBA games too?
I do not know; I leave the answer to those who know the subject better than me.

what difficulty level were you on, when making it to this stage? I was on ultra violence.

 

[Nikokaro]

what difficulty level were you on, when making it to this stage? I was on ultra violence.

The first, the easiest level (in theory).
In this case I don't know, but often, in some megawads, even if there is the difficulty selection menu, in practice the implemented difficulty is only one, the same for all.

 

[CeeDee]

How long until Chex Quest?

 

[Nikokaro]

How long until Chex Quest?

You won't have to wait too long...
http://maomaogames.com/Archive/GBA/index.html

 

[Bazooka_Face]

How long until Chex Quest?

this is mackya's port, not mine.

 

[CeeDee]

You won't have to wait too long...
http://maomaogames.com/Archive/GBA/index.html

this is mackya's port, not mine.

oh hell yeah, just what I needed

 

[LVG]

I have done the patching for most (maybe all) of the wads you offered in this thread, and I really love them! I can't imagine the work it took.
I've only played a few minutes to see how they run but this new variety (and number) of levels is exciting to have on portable systems.
Note : I have tried on the PS Vita and noticed that the patched files don't work with GPSP Kai (other/unpatched games work ok), but they work with mGBA. Maybe it's a specific PS Vita thing, but I thought maybe it's interesting for testing purposes.

Would de-activating the sound increase the game's speed? Would you have any configuration tricks for better performance?

Do you think wads like these could be adapted to Chocolate Doom for the PS Vita or PrBoom for the 3DS, for example?

 

[Nikokaro]

Hello.
I assume that the question is addressed to the OP, even if it is not specified.
Anyway, while waiting for him to answer you, I take the liberty of saying something. I hope you do not mind.

First of all I remind you that this is the section dedicated primarily to gba consoles, and secondarily, perhaps, to the emulation of gba.
I state this because I notice that your questions refer to other consoles (and related emulators).

I have tried on the PS Vita and noticed that the patched files don't work with GPSP Kai

1) This would be a question to ask to the creator of that emulator and in any case in the PS Vita section.

Would de-activating the sound increase the game's speed?

2) Again, are you referring to real hardware (gba / gba sp / ds lite) or emulators (e.g. mgba)?
Removing music and sound effects would make more ram memory available, and actually the speed would increase. But I fear that no one would play it this way: half of Doom's appeal is given by the sound effects and background sounds.

Do you think wads like these could be adapted to Chocolate Doom for the PS Vita or PrBoom for the 3DS, for example?

3) These wads are certainly compatible with 3DS PrBoom, but obviously in the original .wad format, not the converted .gba format (which would be nonsense).
The same goes for PS Vita Chocolate Doom, even if this is slightly inferior than PrBoom: the original wads must be tried one by one.
In this web archive you will find hundreds of old and new wads / megawads, directly compatible with Chocolate / PrBoom engines (in the readme.txt the compatibility is always specified):
https://youfailit.net/pub/idgames/levels/

I remind you that for PSP / PS Vita is also available Doom Legacy, hardware accelerated, which allows higher resolutions and is Boom / Heretic compatible.

I hope you didn't mind my intrusion,
waiting for the answers you were looking for.

 

[Bazooka_Face]

I present to you: deathless for gba! I found out it was being detected as plutonia because of the wfall texture, so i renamed it and it is detected as doom 1 now!