[Free Play] Word Select Mod +DL

[LuneFox]

Once again I bring my apologies for my poor English, for it's my second language.

Intro:
I think everyone who has played Free Play knows the fact that Japanese players send their messages in both languages, while European and US players send them in English only. I've always wondered why this happens, because the "Word Select" feature is supposed to send the ID of a message that is locally translated to a player, like it was in PSO (Japanese see only Japanese text, French see only French text, etc). I managed to understand the messaging system in the game after 3 days of researching the source of PSZ. Actually, the game always sends 128x48 bitmap images over the network, even in free play mode. Free play doesn't allow you to change the fixed words (which are actually images with some text drawn on them). So I decided to try to change some of the fixed images.

Mod Description:
So I made a patch (tested on European version of PSZ) that can change your free play shortcuts to other ones. Myself and DoctorShanks (http://www.pso-world.com/forums/member.php?u=64904) discussed which Free Play shortcuts could be more useful than the default ones, and then I created them. The text of the shortcuts is in both English and Japanese, illustrated with characters from old Phantasy Star games.
We replaced old words with more useful phrases, such as asking to clear missed rooms, saying you'll be right back, thanking you for waiting, saying goodbye, saying "you're welcome" in response to "thank you," and so on.

The most important change is that you can invite other players to PSO-World so that they can find you on the forums and exchange Friend Codes with you! Now you won't lose each other after free play just by asking to meet on this site.

How to install:.
Since some copyright rules don't allow me to share the modded ROM, I made a tiny patch that can be applied to your game and change all the shortcuts. I included everything you need in this archive:
Download (http://nostale.ucoz.ru/PSZ/PSZ_FP_Mod_v2.rar) (724 kb)
Note: This is NOT a ROM!

P.S. You will need a flashcart to play the modded game.
P.P.S. Do this only if you own a retail copy of the game.


Just as an update to this particular thread, linking to the modification will be allowed.

Last Update:
I colored the pictures with monochrome colors (used 3 different shades besides pure white and black) and redrew some elements on the characters (tiaras, eyes, mouth) to make them look a little better. Also changed "You're good" to "You're welcome". So, here are the shortcuts for version 2:

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/1.bmp

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/2.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/3.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/4.bmp

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/5.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/6.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/7.bmp

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/8.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/9.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/10.bmp

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/11.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/12.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/13.bmp

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/14.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/15.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/16.bmp

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/17.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/18.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut2/19.bmp

We tested my mod with DoctorShanks and Gavin and it really works, so here you can see first results of our tests:
[SPOILER-BOX]http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/demo/1.jpg http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/demo/2.jpg

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/demo/3.jpg http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/demo/4.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]
If you found me this way, please post here. I want to know if this thing really helps us to find each other.

Version 1 (history):
[SPOILER-BOX]
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/1.bmp

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/2.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/3.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/4.bmp

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/5.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/6.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/7.bmp

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/8.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/9.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/10.bmp

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/11.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/12.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/13.bmp

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/14.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/15.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/16.bmp

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/17.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/18.bmp http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/19.bmp
[/SPOILER-BOX]

Thank you all for your support! :3
P.S. You can try to apply this patch to JP and USA versions of the game (success not guaranteed: I haven't tested it), and if it doesn't work, just tell me - I'll make some more patches for your versions.

[DoctorShanks]

I would really like to test this out. If you're available right now I'd like to meet you on FreePlay.

Just a suggestion: maybe you'd like to start out by saying Hello then Visit ... perhaps also a message leading them to the PSZ subforum? And you might want to keep the three essentials at the top (Hello, Congrats, Thank You!)

EDIT: I'm on matchmaker now, all checked except Normal and Hard.

EDIT2: DCed. Back on now.

[LuneFox]

There are only 3 of them on screenshot, but I made 19 phrases. And it's not hard to replace them. Just takes time to put it on the DS.

Alright, one moment.
The bad thing about Free Play is that you can't view the log.

Okay, I'm waiting in Free Play now.

Oh, lol, I have 1 image upside-down.

[DoctorShanks]

Thats OK, you can just say the messages twice if you need to. The bad thing is you don't know if they need you to do that or not :P

Perhaps now maybe a new suggestion would be to shorten the messages a bit? The last two seem too long in my opinion for a first time reader or for someone who's second language was english.

[LuneFox]

I just clicked them without waiting. They last longer usually. Yeah, the solution is to repeat 2 times.

[DoctorShanks]

Cool shortcuts. Except that upside-down one. Hehe. Also, what does the Japanese shortcut say?

Just a few suggestions as a Force, maybe you should wait until getting Lv15 Shifta before offering to use it. Also, at Makara you should try using Barta instead. I was using Grants because ofthe FOmarls 30% boost. Maybe a little down the line you could try mastering the art of Jellen and/or Zalure :)

[LuneFox]

Japanese one says "I can understand japanese a little, but [my] chat is in english only".

And yeah, I know about playing force. I had all shifta/deband/zalure/jellen on my pallete, but i was too lazy to change pallete and use debuffs.

[DoctorShanks]

Just as a personal request: I don't think excessive advertisements should be sent out. Keep in mind that we were in a party with two Japanese players, and I don't think they would understand non-simple english. What I'm saying is, try only sending out shoutouts and stuff to players that you only find with English names. Can't make ourselves look too silly :3.

Maybe instead, you could try something like, "if it interests you, please go to pso-world.com and look us/me up!" or whatever you have room for. Good work on this, it's really amazing that you are able to create these.

[LuneFox]

I've been thinking about the simplicity of shortcuts.
Maybe I should write them in both languages?
Or, maybe, I must use more images and less text? So that it would look more interesting.

This is a test version, you know. I'm missing some shortcuts like "grats" and "ok" but have some useless ones.

How do you think, what 19 shortcuts can be most useful?

[DoctorShanks]

-Hello! How are you today?
-Allright, let's go!
-Thank you! (picture)
-Congrats! (picture)
-OK!
-I'm sorry >_< (Picture?)
-One moment please, I'll be back in a minute or so.
-Okay, I'm back! Thanks for waiting.
-Good Job! (Picture)
-Maybe we should go back and finish the remaining rooms...
-(Same as above, except in Japanese if you can)
-ZOMG RAPPIEZ! (DURR PICTURZ)
-Be careful! (Picture?) (Rare or boosted enemy?)
-I'm sorry, but could you please not cheat? (Gun Glitchers, or Speed hackers; not much we can do about Dark Falz though unless you'd like to word it differently)
-Hahahahahaha! (Picture; there must be plenty out there)
-(Same Japanese message as before, unless you can get many messages in both English and Japanese)

Not quite 19, but you said in game you had some ideas.

EDIT: Forgot OK. Derp.

[LuneFox]

Well, in my opinion all shortcuts should be very polite, accurate and beautiful, like in official release. They also need to be short, informative and without extra words. It means no crazy pictures and emotions.

I think of doing most of messages with characters of old Phantasy Star games attached to them (Like Rika and "Gread Job!"). The rest should be information about PSO-World and how to find other players.

I think there should be:
10 messages containing new information (greeting, asking for help, messages about going to shop and going back to clear other rooms etc),
7 messages used as reaction to specific actions and speech (level ups, death, victory at the boss, saying thanks for help, detecting something rare, asking if you're ok)
2 messages containing information about PSO-World and invitations.

Now let's see what can we have.

First 10:
1. Hello! Nice to meet you!
2. Thank you!
3. Sorry!
4. I need to shop.
5. You're a good player!
6. Let's clear all other rooms!
7. Please, don't go alone.
8. Thank you for waiting!
9. I'll be right back.
10. See you next time!

Next 7 messages:
1. Congratulations!
2. Yes, let's do it!
3. I'm OK, thanks.
4. Wow! Rare thing!
5. I did't get anything good.
6. Good job!
7. Hahaha!

Other 2:
1. Let's exchange Friend Codes? // intriguing and waiting if your partner says "OK"
2. Contact me and other players at http://pso-world.com Forums! //giving a hint where to find us

What do you think?

[DoctorShanks]

Personally I think that whether you found something rare is completely irrelevant to FreePlay, as there's usually a 33% chance you'll be able to show it off and an even lower chance that an inexperienced player will know what the heck an H44 Missouri or Lavis Kanon is. Usually, we find nothing good anyway :P

I really think that you should try the no cheating request, but it's completely up to you. When I'm online I always wish I have a way to ask gun glitchers to stop what they're doing before disconnecting. If they don't say OK, then you can disconnect :)

#4A - One moment please, I need to visit a shop.
(Alternatively, you could use your current #4 then #9 right afterwards.)
#5A - You're really good at this! Nice job!
#6A - Maybe we should clear the other rooms first...
(Assuming they're not too far away. If they say OK, then backtrack. Good idea to have this message in Japanese as well.)
#10A - See you later!
(Up to you how you plan to word it. Sometimes there isnt a next time.)

#2B - OK! Let's go!
(Kind of the same thing, but it sounded like a response to a question before, which no default Freeplay message would ask)
#4/5B - (Scrapped for something else. These could potentially be used as Wild Cards instead for something more useful later)

#2C - If you're interested, contact us @ pso-world.com
(So that way it doesn't sound like we're "telling" them to find us, and they won't feel bad if they have no way of doing it)

Everything else sounds really good. (In place of 4/5B) If you don't have the Japanese translation for all of these, then use the previous Japanese message that you used before. Also consider my "please don't cheat" shortcut. The rest are really cool and all useable.

[LuneFox]

Okay :3 So, instead of information about drops I should put something about cheating? Nice.

So, what can they sound like?

4b: Please, don't use bugs.
5b: I have to go. (If you decided to leave immideately when he resists or by another reason).

Is that OK?

Btw, phrases need to be really short because I'm doing them for both languages + image.

[DoctorShanks]

Thats cool, yeah that works. I understand that you have to keep them small. It's something I forgot to keep in mind.

Maybe, "Don't abuse bugs please" (If Abuse and Please both fit)
And, yes. A message saying you need to leave works. Real life happens all the time.

[LuneFox]

Well, they have to be REALLY short (assuming that there's an image).
For example, the greeting message will look like this:

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/1.bmp
P.S. 16px magrin is necessary. Or the image wil exceed the chat bubble.

[DoctorShanks]

Right... most of these don't need pictures. Just for the small phrases. Also, I'm trying to slip my mind into the point of view of someone who would not expect and would be surprised by seeing a picture in the Greeting. Worst case scenario, 100% anti-hackers would purposefully d/c.

Cute little pictures for Thank You, Sorry, Good Job, and Hahaha would be cool, but the rest are probably too long for a picture. I think 1A should stand as "Hello, Nice to meet you" then the Japanese Hello beneath it. Does this all fit?

[LuneFox]

I'm afraid that "Nice to meet you" doesn't on fit the screen together with an image. Short "Hello" looks classic and simple, and fast to read.

Hmm.. Well, about hackers... I think they'll want to stay and see more shortcuts rather than disconnecting immediately.

[DoctorShanks]

OK, cool. Looking forward to the results :P

Don't be surprised if I ask you to Freeplay instead of regular hosting from here on out... haha.

[LuneFox]

Sure :3 We'll hunt for new players together in Free Play :3

[DoctorShanks]

Something crossed my mind, hopefully you haven't gotten this far yet but...

Regarding C2, perhaps we should point them in the right direction. http://pso-world.com/forums instead of just the site name. And just making sure... we're only sending C1/C2 to English players or both English and JP?

[LuneFox]

C1/C2 for english players. If japanese want to come here, they need to know how to read english. Understanding this message will prove their skill.

And, full link to forums is too long and can't be put into a single string. I already thought about it.

[DoctorShanks]

OK, thanks for clarifying.

Once again, I appreciate your hard work and your skill at this sort of thing. I imagine it cannot be an easy task, so thanks :3

EDIT: I have another question. You know how when Japanese players send messages to English players, the message alters so that way we see the message in both Japanese and English? My question is, do English messages do the same thing on Japanese carts? If so, did you make it so that the English translations will not appear? In short, will the message appear the exact same on Japanese and English carts? I ask because a Japanese player might get a distorted image with your message + the default english translation.

[LuneFox]

Everyone sees what's on the screen. Instead of sending the ID of a message, the game sends actual 128x28 bitmap image. So japanese carts just have images with japanese and english text on them.

[DoctorShanks]

Regarding 1C, you would probably have to use 2C right afterwards so as to avoid confusion from the other player(s). I think it would be wise to not wait for the OK because they would not know how to exchange the friend code without C2 being used. Just a thought.

I see you've said you're working on C1 in game now. Good work.

[LuneFox]

Yeah, that's what I'm counting on. Showing just 2 one after another.

[LuneFox]

So, here comes.

Is this ok to pack in the game?
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/1.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/2.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/3.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/4.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/5.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/6.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/7.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/8.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/9.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/10.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/11.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/12.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/13.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/14.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/15.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/16.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/17.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/18.bmp
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut/19.bmp

[DoctorShanks]

I have no words to describe the epic. You sir truly are the god of shortcuts.

YES, those are OK to pack into the game. I'm noticing the lack of the essential "OK" but if you want to go without it then that's OK. Also as I've suggested in game, the dash in pso-world could be a bit more noticable if possible. Either way the finished shortcuts are amazing and definetly useable. I can't wait to see these in game.

[Nick O'Demus]

Awesome! Doubly-so for using the classic Phantasy Star characters.

[DoctorShanks]

On Matchmaker now. I told Gavin to come along as quickly as I could. Hopefully he got the message. And hopefully we get a player #4.

EDIT: Got paired with Gavin but I don't think Lune logged on yet.

[Ken & Robo]

Holy hell, those are amazing shortcuts. Excellent work, LuneFox. =)

Oh, and yes, Classic Phantasy Star characters = more awesome.

[LuneFox]

I can share this mod with you if you want.
Anti-piracy post: Yes, you have to own a retail game copy ^^ And a flashcart.

[DoctorShanks]

Just played a 4P party with LuneFox, Gavin, Me, and a Japanese RAcast! Everything went better than expected =)

Lune is going to take screenshots for our next run assuming we don't run into a 4th player.

[LuneFox]

Updated the first post, added screenshots :3

[DoctorShanks]

It was fun guys =) But now I need to prepare for school tomorrow. It's already late; I had way too much fun with this today. Goodnight ^^

EDIT1: Good luck with recruiting, LuneFox. I should be available at 3:00pm est to play again tomorrow.

EDIT2: I can't sleep lol. This is seriously the most historic event I have ever seen in all of my PSZ career.

[LuneFox]

Heh, lol. Sorry but I'll be spending all day with my gf (it's Valentine's Day today, you know) so I'll be here only after 6 p.m. Anyway, thanks for your motivation and support :3

When I first thought about modifying PSZ shortcuts, I was all like "no, it's too complicated and probably I'm totally wrong about how it really works". But you can't know until you try something out, right? :3
A single thought that came across my head and started all this was "Why do I see messages from Japanese players differently?". I was hoping to post this idea at forums and wait for someone else to take this investigation task and write a patch. But then I remembered that I'm an engineer too and can take this job =p

[Bolmack]

OMG thats realy amazing! :D and the object of this project is rly nice :3 if i can help whit something just let me know!

[DoctorShanks]

No problem Lune. I'll just be doing what every other lonely single guy does on Valentines Day doing whatever homework I missed today (I stayed home from a lack of sleep). I'll definetly be here after 6:00pm (assuming eastern) though.

Anything's possible when it comes to modding games as long as you can imagine it. Thankfully, this didn't turn out to be that hard. I'm glad. Day well spent.

EDIT: 25 mins later: This is what I predict the logs would look like if FreePlay had logs...

The teleporter has been set to Derpville!

-Hello!
-Hello!
-Hello!
-Alys: Hello!
-WTF!?!
-WTF!?!
-WTF!?!

I'm wondering... are you the first known person to do this? That would be amazing if it were true.

[Shade_Koopa]

Wow, Lune, though new modded shortcuts look amazing. Hehe, I'd like to have them and give it a try myself.

[LuneFox]

I'm wondering... are you the first known person to do this? That would be amazing if it were true.
I have no idea, really :3

[Nymeria]

Great work on all of these, LuneFox! (o^_^)b

[DoctorShanks]

The fact that messages don't appear during loading screens and the fact that FP doesn't have a log, I found myself not seeing most of your messages.

Oh, and for next time we find ourselves at Dark Falz, I'll ask to use the Photon Blast by using the Shortcut "Photon Blast!" I think thats how most players coordinate who is going to use it.

Add on: Thanks for the runs. I have a few things to do right now though.

[LuneFox]

I remastered almost all shortcuts. Check the first post to see the updated version.

Well, I don't usually shout for PB, I just wait for someone to use it and then I just join. Or, if no one starts it for some time, I do it by myself.

[DoctorShanks]

Thats amazing. It looks like you're using different colors, but they all actually appear like that in game? If you're available right now I'd like to test this again.

I'm glad that the "Let's Clear all Rooms" shortcut works well. We tested it on a Japanese HUnewm yesterday and he said OK!

[LuneFox]

Yeah, cause it's still 2 colors. Yeah, "Clear all rooms" worked fine :3
"Congrats" is upside down. Gah!

[DoctorShanks]

Meh, did that RAcaseal just D/C on us? I was at a loading screen so I didn't see what she said. I sure hope it wasn't "Oh No!" because then that might confirm my fears of AntiHackers disconnecting on you/us.

How has it been so far though? Have most people you met on FreePlay played with you? Have any of them disconnected on you in the first minute?

Also, while I might still have a chance to stop you, would you consider changing to word "Contact" to "Find" on Shortcut C2?

By the way, I'll be playing a bit with Omega in the meantime.

[LuneFox]

Nobody has disconnected yet, everyone has played with me till the end. And the only one who said "Oh no!" last time was you :3
I don't think it's this player was afraid of hackers. Usually people like seeing something cute and unusual.

It's too late now, I already packed and put the game on my DS.

Upd: Lol, this Racaseal disconnected again.

[DoctorShanks]

Allright, cool. Assuming you haven't partied up yet, Omega and I are now on matchmaker.

EDIT: Turns out that RAcaseal just has a bad connection. Does anyone remember her name? It was in English lettering I believe, but I'm bad at remembering names.

[LuneFox]

I think I'll continue my work on advanced coloring with more than 3 colors. Right now.
RAcaseal's name was something on R. Ryona or...

[DoctorShanks]

OK. I'm going to take a break for now. Thanks guys. Good work LuneFox.

[LuneFox]

Does it look better this way? Or maybe too dirty?

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut3/1.bmp

[DoctorShanks]

I'm going to have to cast my vote for "no." Maybe if the dots on the face were removed, then maybe yes. Other than that, I can see what you're trying to accomplish with the colors now.

[LuneFox]

Well, then I'll leave just 3 shades for now.

Without black dots on the face it looks nearly the same:
http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/pszshortcut3/2.bmp

[DoctorShanks]

Kind of. I actually like that one alot, but I'd also like to hear the opinions of others too. Amazing artwork =)

By the way, what are the laws on sharing/distributing this mod as a patch for those with Flash carts? I know Shade expressed interest in this earlier on in this thread.

[LuneFox]

Well, the only thing I know is that I cannot modify and share the game over the Internet (though I don't know what will happen if I do. Maybe they'll just ask to delete my upload or something). But I think I can send it personally to anyone who asks.

[Link1275]

Sharing the actual mod is not illegal in the United States(it's basically considered cheating by the government and they can't outlaw that) however sharing a modded version of the game is illegal and due to the new laws it is enforced. I can't say about other countries though as I haven't studied their laws, however their laws should be similar.

[LuneFox]

Okay, I got it. So, now I made a patch and put it for download.
First post is totally rewritten. I hope I don't run into any problems ^^

[DoctorShanks]

Seems OK to me... I was kind of hoping you'd selectively share the patch in case of hackers (the unfair kind) downloading and using it (possibly making us look bad), but this is OK too. I think I worry too much :3

Huge success? I hope so too. If I see anyone else using these shortcuts in game on Freeplay, I'll be sure to report the good news ^_^

[LuneFox]

Hehe, that would be nice to see someone who succeed in applying my patch :3
Until then, I'll be the only one using it ^_^

And... how can other hackers make us look bad?

[DoctorShanks]

I mean, the unfair kinds of hackers that run twice as fast as legitimate characters do... those Lv100 FOnewms swinging around their Asclepios and not taking any damage from enemies. Or better yet, I should say if a cheater uses this patch, and redirects them to pso-world, it might make us look bad. But like I said, I worry too much.

By the way, I'll be logging on now if you're available to play.

[LuneFox]

Okay, okay, I got it. I won't share this mod with anyone. Stop deleting my posts, mods. Thank you.
(Though, I wasn't even explained why I can't share any mods. I'm not uploading hacked roms or anything.)

[DoctorShanks]

Odd, oh well. I haven't checked in for quite a while, but other than the fact that we now know sharing is prohibited, is there anything new? By any chance have you found anyone online using these shortcuts (or even shortcuts of their own)?

[LuneFox]

Nope, I just didn't have time to play besides the revival.

[Ryna]

Just as an update to this particular thread, linking to the modification will be allowed. Just don't post any links to the ROM. If you have any questions, send me a private message.

[LuneFox]

I didn't post any links to the ROM, I posted only 720kb mod file. But some other moderator deleted the link... Well, if you say so... I will repost the link again.

[DoctorShanks]

Bumping.

Just as a guess, how long do you think it would take to create patches for the North American and Japanese versions of this game. I really want to see people like Shade_Koopa and HUcast Omega using this patch, but I know this thread unfortunately has not had much interest.

Another question for Lune, you said that you've experienced random crashes when playing with other members; is it common, or has it only happened twice? Do you think the patch is to blame? (I don't think so. I remember you crashing when playing in a "With Friends" game with me).

[LuneFox]

Well, I think I can make other patches too if people send me their versions of ROMs. I have only european one. And freezes in game are related only to my hardware. My DS often freezes with other games, especially when I shake it accidentally.

[CornP]

I was able to patch my US game. However I still can't try it out because Free Play is sort of dead.

[DoctorShanks]

I find that Free Play is find of dull until the higher difficulties are reached, but even up in SH, it's hard to find games unless you play on Saturday Morning or something when all the Japanese players are playing. Good luck to you though :)

[LuneFox]

@CornP: Does your game still work after this patch? O.o
By the way, I was able to stop some japanese gun glitcher with "stop using bugs" shortcut. Finally it came in handy :3 He said "sorry" and stopped using the glitch.

[DoctorShanks]

*CLAPCLAP* ^_^

@Lune: Why would it not work? The only kind of errors I can imagine would be texture-wise from using a different version of the game.

Still, I'm very excited to hear Corn's report. I'd love to play online and test this with him if I could.

[CornP]

well it does work! I did the command line patch and though the program didn't report any "successful patch" message (it displayed some other stuff), the game didn't break.
Unless I made a mistake when typing in CMD leaving the game unpatched, it should be working on the US version!

[DoctorShanks]

Great to know, thanks man ^^

[LuneFox]

@Lune: Why would it not work? The only kind of errors I can imagine would be texture-wise from using a different version of the game.

Well, you see, my patch doesn't see real files in the archive. It sees only difference in files and its position.
Let me show some simple example.

We have some original game that looks like 1001 1101 0110 0101 1000
I modify the game and make it look like 1001 1101 0000 1111 1000
I make a patch that is actually a program that says "start patching and replace everything from 9th digit to 16th digit with 0000 1111" (that's why the patch comes out tiny)
But it doesn't care what stands between 8th and 17th digit, it just blindly replaces the code.

If EU and US versions of the game have the same order of data (i.e. they're fully identical), then it'll work. If not, there's a chance that my patch will replace something vital and break the game.
Even a single different name or extra symbol in the game will shift data addresses.

[DoctorShanks]

In that case, it might be important to let people know to back up their ROM/Save File before patching in case all hell breaks loose. However, if it worked for US and EU, then hopefully there is nothing to worry about. I could imagine JP being different though.

Once my third character hits level 100 on retail, I think I'm going to buy myself one of those flashcarts so I can play those characters that I never got to play yet ^^ (I'm so tempted to try out a Slicer RAmarl). Though until I find out the legal information, (help?) I won't be doing this.

[LuneFox]

People don't have to worry about making backups, because this patcher doesn't change the original ROM but creates its modded copy in specified destination.
As I said in readme, you should enter: link to the patcher > link to my mod > link to the ROM > link to a place where the new ROM should appear.

In future I'm planning on making different packs of shortcuts with different words. And maybe some mods for NPC commands and messages.
(I'd like to excite people with pseudo-handwritten messages in free play as well =P and add some troll phrases like "stop using macros like a bot, write like all humans do!" or smth like that =P Or maybe adding something personal like asking to e-mail me or add me to skype. This way they'll find me faster than on this site, and I will personally link them to our forums.)

[DoctorShanks]

More patches would be pretty cool, especially a troll patch :P

By the way, could you explain why the patched version of PSZ is smaller than the retail copy? After patching, it went from 128 MB to 113 MB (US version). But in the Readme it only went down to 118 MB. Is this normal?

[LuneFox]

Well, actual roms equal size of carts, that are round numbers like 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 or 256 Mbytes. Real size of PSZ is around 113 MB, the rest is just useless empty space. (Imagine PSZ as 128 MB flash drive with only 113 MB filled.) When I repack the game, this empty space is automatically cut off.

[DoctorShanks]

I see.

Also, can the OP be updated to say at the bottom that it works on the US version too? (Still untested on the Japanese version) CornP confirmed this after all.

[LuneFox]

Did you see him using new shortcuts? He said that his game is still working after the patch, but who knows how exactly my patch worked.
I'll update my first post when I'm convinced that it works properly.

[Gown]

I should send you the Hello Kitty versions. I'll edit this post with the dropbox when I recrop them.

[DoctorShanks]

Bumping this thread again. I might be able to get online soon, and if I am to get a second file of the game, I'll definitely be using these shortcuts, and I'll be playing quite a bit of Free Play to support this ^^;

I'll bump this thread with screenshots when it actually happens, but that won't be for a while.

[LuneFox]

I just came up with a thought that if we can send custom messages in Free Play, but don't have the button to start writing our own thigs like in normal game... it means that it's just disabled. If I could find a way to enable it through some hacking, it would be awesome. But, on the other hand, finding tiny separate files containing only small bitmap images was quite easy. I don't know how to decompile the game code even if it's possible (though I'm very unsure that it's possible). Maybe some address hacking could help but I don't have an idea what address it is... Hmm...

[DoctorShanks]

That would be amazing, but even what's been done so far is a huge breakthrough in my opinion. If you want, go for it; it'll be awesome if it's possible, but then again, there's a good reason why Nintendo made sure it wasn't possible.

Another thought crossed my mind, what if you or I created some kind of visual guide either on the OP or in an Excel Document that you can include in the folder with the mod. I admit I struggled a bit with the mod before I was able to patch my game, but that's because I've never had any previous experience with the command prompt.

[LuneFox]

Hmm.. well, if this mod becomes popular, people will start asking lots of questions if they have any problems with patching. In this case I'll think of doing an additional guide besides readme.

[DoctorShanks]

Bumping because I still think this is interesting.

I haven't had the chance to try this out yet, but with my internet back online that day might be soon.

[syini]

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[Chaos Rappy]

Game? No. Topic? Yes. This board gets new posts usually once a day at least, and we still have an ongoing online community too... dead, this game is not...

[DoctorShanks]

I do plan to try this out some day. I just haven't been able to get my hands on a Flash Card yet (super close I think). I was going to bring back the thread with screenshots and everything :P. But yeah, though the interest in this mod was evident, unfortunately only so many people could use it.

[SolarSamurai]

This patch is compatible with which versions of PSZ? U.S.?

[LuneFox]

I made it for European version, but I didn't try applying it to US version. I'm still waiting for someone to try and report back.

[SolarSamurai]

Okay. I have a Japanese and English copy. I will apply the patch to both and see if they work. I will post the results when I am finished.

**Just tested with the U.S. version. The mod works with it. (Your mod is now confirmed compatible with both the EU and US version of the game.)

**Just tested with the Japanese version. The mod makes the game crash when booted. Perhaps a little tweaking and it can work? ((Mod does not work with Japanese version of the game.))