[Code Source] Mr Nutz 2 MD

[Wesker]

I'm interested in the title screen hack. It's the closest thing we can have to the final product until the unreleased/unleaked final revision of the game leaks out (if it ever does, which I doubt unless someone changes his mind). Is it easy to attempt, p1pkin?

I would also like to put in the Ocean and Neon introductory logos of the Amiga version if possible, after the Sega logo and before the title screen, although that may be a more complicated task since it is probably required to add new code for both to be loaded.

[p1pkin]

I'm interested in the title screen hack. It's the closest thing we can have to the final product until the unreleased/unleaked final revision of the game leaks out (if it ever does, which I doubt unless someone changes his mind). Is it easy to attempt, p1pkin?

Yes, it is not hard to do, but someone must to edit original logo (i.e. it must be IFF file with the same color depth), I am have weak graphican skills, and to be honest not very interested to do that. My goal was to compile that game sources "as is".

2kikendo:
thanks for debug screen, I'll try to fix it if that is possible.

[p1pkin]

To all interested people here is some tips how to build that nasty sources:
Easy way - you can take ready build environment http://www.sendspace.com/file/frf4pb
Hard way - you can make it by yourself:
At first you must have an Amiga with at least 4MB RAM (or WinUAE) with installed Workbench, Devpac, OMA assembler and SAS C (only linker is needed).
Second you must unpack original *.lha's in proper place, game looks for files in Work: so we must do an assign for it, for example
assign Work: DH0:Work
then Nutz_BatchFiles_11_8.lha must be unpacked to Work:sega
Nutz_Levels_11_8.lha to Work:sega/mlevels
Nutz_Sources_11_8.lha to Work:sega
Nutz_Karte_11_8.lha to Work:projects/megadrive
Nutz_Tools&Converter_17_5.lha to Work:sega/tools
and add that folder to path
path ADD Work:sega/tools

So, we almost ready to build the game, open with your favourite text editor Work/sega/SEGABatch/make_karte and change 3rd line to
make makefile

after that we can build that part of game engine:
cd Work:sega/SEGABatch
execute make_karte
(or, if you are take my "easy way" files just open segabatch folder and doubleclick make_karte)
and we have that "missing" Mickey.library

so, next we must joining levels of platform-style part of game, it is must be done by running make_mr_nutz script and say yes on "Make Levels ?", BUT at least under WinUAE this thing works bad (I think files joining in wrong order), so I use Far Manager to join -levels_all and -levels_subdefinition files in that order - inka, natur, water, tekkno, under, Sky, endgegner, WARP.

after that we finally ready to build game, so we must start Devpac and open Work:sega/sources/Mr_Nutz/Nutz_project and compile it (Program - Assemble) and then run the script to build the ROM - segabatch/make_nutz_rom
in result you'll have game's rom, if you use mine build files - in Work folder, if you prefer original ones - in RAM:

[TEOL]

Well by the sounds of things you compiled up the proper Mr Nutz 2 version already. Any chance or releasing that on proper pre done file?

[p1pkin]

This is the debug screen I get with this ROM on my NTSC Japanese Megadrive:
Maybe it helps someone out. This appears on first boot, after a reset it's gone.
The machine is set to NTSC/USA by means of a Megakey device, I could try it without the Megakey and see what's up.

Looks like it crashes immediatelly after VDP init, even before M68K interrupts init.
have a little idea about that can cause that crash.
please try this ROM http://www.sendspace.com/file/jw286m

2TEOL:
that you mean "proper pre done file" ?

[Wesker]

I believe TEOL is mixing up this early prototype compiled upon the leaked source code, with the final/retail game prototype Peter Thierolf has, which is also the one with the revised Mr. Nutz 2 title and shown in those GENS emulator screenshots. We cannot have that prototype unless Peter Thierolf is willing to release it (and last time he wasn't), so this earlier Mr. Nutz: Hoppin' Mad prototype is all we can have by now.

I finished the game already and while the game is fortunately complete (bar some omissions from the Amiga version like the 3D-ish tunnel sections), there are unfortunately some bugs/glitches present on this prototype, up to the point of freezing the game unexpectedly. And if you let the game loop the title screen and the demo plays for a while, it will eventually hang, freeze or even show that debug screen. Peter Thierolf commented about having to delay the game in order to fix some fatal bugs (which must be these), and a couple of months later when they had done all the fixing and had the game ready, Ocean didn't want to release it any longer. Does that new ROM fix anything of that, p1kpin?

By the way, I tried to get the Mr. Nutz 2 logo from the GENS screenshot that has it, but unfortunately the pic was taken at resized 2x (640x480) size, and the logo is messed up when reverting it back to the original 320x240 size, so unless someone is able to do that better than me, I'm afraid we can forget about having an alternative ROM hacked with the retail Mr. Nutz 2 title. I hope the actual retail prototype will end showing up one day.

[kikendo]

This hex is because it's a PAL game and if you choose to play it on real hardware it's optimised to play in 60hz via emulation straight away but it isn't on real hardware it's weird but thats how this game works.

Sorry this is not true at all. I had no problem playing the game after I pressed reset. My machine doesn't have a 50/60 Hz switch and I didn't have to do any sort of wizardry to get it to run after the debug screen, just press Reset once and the game ran fin after I power-cycled the console.
It didn't seem to have the music going faster at all, it sounded right. The framerate was indeed fast but that's because it's 60 Hz. And the game displayed at full screen with nothing cut or shortened.
As I said, my machine is set to NTSC USA and it's working fine that way. I just tried it without the Megakey (NTSC JP) and it STILL runs fine after the reset. Those with real hardware and an Everdrive: you can all play this fantastic game perfectly.

Here's a photo of my MD running the game just fine without the Megakey, machine set in its original NTSC-JP mode:




I tried the new version and the debug screen is indeed gone! Other than that there is no difference. The game still doesn't want to work on my Caanoo using Picodrive, which is a real shame. Works fine on the Wii's Genesis Plus GX though.

[Wesker]

The game is a bitch to emulators at this current state I believe. It has some weird flickering in the backgrounds when running on either GENS or Kega_Fusion, and it doesn't work at all on PSP PicoDrive (only the Sega screen shows, and then black screen). I don't know if this is because of the rough state of this prototype, or because of the way this game is programmed. I can only play this game perfectly (bar the annoying game hang/freezing bugs which show up randomly) by booting it up on real hardware by means of the Everdrive.

Speaking about that, there's something that happens when I run the game on my console in NTSC-J region. The game works perfectly in both PAL and NTSC-U regions, but when the NTSC-J region is set, this is what I get at boot:



I can't get this through emulators though, so that's why I'm taking a picture instead of a clean screenshot. This seems to be some kind of regional protection to me, only affecting to NTSC-J machines (which would make sense), but it's weird and nobody has pointed it out so far.

[p1pkin]

I tried the new version and the debug screen is indeed gone! Other than that there is no difference.

nice to hear my quickfix was successful! (I just swapped two lines of code :) )

The game is a bitch to emulators at this current state I believe. It has some weird flickering in the backgrounds when running on either GENS or Kega_Fusion, and it doesn't work at all on PSP PicoDrive (only the Sega screen shows, and then black screen). I don't know if this is because of the rough state of this prototype, or because of the way this game is programmed. I can only play this game perfectly (bar the annoying game hang/freezing bugs which show up randomly) by booting it up on real hardware by means of the Everdrive.

if I understand you correctly - background flickering is not present on real hardware ?
I was thinking modern emulators are 100% precise.

I can't get this through emulators though, so that's why I'm taking a picture instead of a clean screenshot. This seems to be some kind of regional protection to me, only affecting to NTSC-J machines (which would make sense), but it's weird and nobody has pointed it out so far.

I reproduce that picture on emulator with some debugging, and yes, this is regional lockout screen.
The strange thing - it will be shown only on PAL-Japanese consoles.
Anyway this can be easy avoided:
Open rom in any HEX-editor and change byte at offset 0x1F3 from 0x20 to 0x58

[brendand]

Awesome I cannot play it because my Portable MD only plays bin roms any chance of a Bin rom please??=D

[Wesker]

if I understand you correctly - background flickering is not present on real hardware ?
I was thinking modern emulators are 100% precise.

Correct. That issue is not present at all on real hardware.

Maybe the background problem and the PicoDrive incompatibility are both due to the unique way this game was programmed. I remember when the unreleased X-Men: Mind Games for 32X was released and wasn't properly supported by emulators like Kega_Fusion. The game didn't run past the title screen (similar to what happens when you try to run this prototype through PicoDrive), something that was fixed later on (I believe GENS still doesn't support it). These emulators will probably have to be updated once more in order to solve their respective issues.

I reproduce that picture on emulator with some debugging, and yes, this is regional lockout screen.
The strange thing - it will be shown only on PAL-Japanese consoles.
Anyway this can be easy avoided:
Open rom in any HEX-editor and change byte at offset 0x1F3 from 0x20 to 0x58

You're right. I got the screen on GENS by switching to the unusable PAL-J region, like you said.



It's odd, because I can definitely have this screen in the NTSC-J region on real hardware. I don't know what could be causing this difference.

Anyway, it's just a curiosity to point out. I don't really need to modify the ROM to avoid that lockout because my consoles are all modified with multi-region switches. It's too bad this screen is just a regional protection message and not a copyright screen between the Sega logo and the title screen (the same as the nonexistent Ocean and Neon logos) because it would fit that role perfectly and add genuinity to the game.

Awesome I cannot play it because my Portable MD only plays bin roms any chance of a Bin rom please??=D

Rename the .md extension to .bin and you should be fine.

[TEOL]

It may not work on Picodrive but by any chance does it work on any other PSP emulators like DGEN?

[p1pkin]

I've tried this game on win32 version of DGEN - top-down levels unplayable because a lot of gfx glitches, only "platform" levels works fine.

[JamesR]

Since this comes with all the images a programmer which can work with flash to make games can make a Flash version of what it could have been or something?

If it is written on Assembly(which most likely is the case), it would be damn hard to port the game to something like Flash.

[badbeholder]

It may not work on Picodrive but by any chance does it work on any other PSP emulators like DGEN?

I tryed 1.50, 1.51a, 1.51b and black screen later $ega logo, but...

I tryed with 1.35 unofficial Picodrive 1.35b R (Rewind mod) and It worked!!!! and too in 1.40b.

Note: To start game are sure render mode is set in FAST, if is in acurated, then games black screen later $ega logo.

Note: In some worlds, background glitched if render is in fast, change it in theirs, or change controls to make it easy in game (Start + R in my config), game goes slower wuth accurate, put more mhz in config, frameskip in auto and sound in 11 khz to solve it,

1.40b: http://dl.qj.net/psp/emulators/picod...psp-v140b.html

1.35 unofficial Rewind mod:

http://dl.qj.net/psp/emulators/unoff...ewind-mod.html

or this one:

http://dl.qj.net/psp/emulators/unoff...ewind-mod.html



You can play in that versions of picodrive or:

Start game with 1.35 RW or 1.40, save game in first island, then get the save state, (in mds folder) and copy it to mds folder to picodrive 1.51b, and you can play it in that version, loading state we bypass the black screen !!!!!

[cixxx]

i just made a new title screen, but i got in some trouble replacing it. i set up the complete amiga with the required tools and im able to compile the source code and get the game running as it is. but how to chance the logo now? i did it in the .iff format and after that i crunched it with the tpacker available in the tools folder of nutz2. i thing the right place for the crunched logo is \hd0\Work\projects\megadrive\Zoom\Includes\Logo.t so i replaced the old one with my crunched 256 colour one in the t format. but after compiling and testing the game the logo didnt change. i guess im missing some important step like assamble some .asm files new after replacing the Logo.t. anyone can give me a hint what im missing?

[cixxx]

nobody here can give me a hint?

[Wesker]

Just asking. What's your new title screen? Is it the Mr. Nutz 2 logo?

Try to contact p1kpin and see if he can help you out.

[cixxx]

yeah its the mr.nutz 2 logo

i already managed to remove the old logo, but i cant get in the new one and i dont get what im doing wrong.



running on org hardware via flash card.

[p1pkin]

you must use "updatefile" AREXX script for CygnusED.

go to sega\tools, run CED and press F1 key, after that you'll get picture like this
ced.png
then press 4 for "Zoom" tasks, and 2 for rebuild graphics.
aftter that you must rebuild Mickey.library (delete content of \Work\projects\megadrive\Final\ folder and run make_karte script), and the ROM