DKC Atlas Forum

[Qyzbud]

This post has been rewritten by Qyzbud.

Here you can share and discuss minor Donkey Kong Country ROM hacks (such as simple object/property modifications, etc.). This thread is also for announcing/commencing more ambitious projects, before they are properly under way. Each major hack is to have its own thread, but for those who are just experimenting or creating simple tweaks, this is the place to share your findings and creations.


original post info:
Subject: post your DKC Hacks here.
Content: this is the place to post your hacks of DKC.

[Simion32]

Well my hack, DKC Challenge Edition, already has its own thread, so you can watch its progress there.

It doesn't make much sense to have multiple hacks in one thread, since later on it may become confusing which hack you're referring to. For now, I think we should use this topic to index all existing DKC hacks. Besides, there aren't that many DKC hacks, and I doubt there will be many more major ones until we have a decent, non-time-consuming editor.

Even with use of the Japanese DKEdit, it's still quite difficult to hack a full-fledged level because of the very strict seam boundaries. This isn't as bad in Factories, but Jungles are a nightmare to get fully aligned with scenery tiles.

Here's the DKC3 Hack I made back when discovering DKC3's object maps. And I uploaded a video of it on YouTube, HERE.

[DKCplayer]

Even with use of the Japanese DKEdit, it's still quite difficult to hack a full-fledged level because of the very strict seam boundaries. This isn't as bad in Factories, but Jungles are a nightmare to get fully aligned with scenery tiles.

Ugh, you're telling me...
And I've got no idea how to change what objects are and where to put them. Same with bananas.
I managed to make the terrain for the first level. Preview:

Donkey Kong Country (U) (V1.0) [!]000.png (17.55 KiB) Viewed 156159 times

Just near the dirt patch with the keg.
I need to edit objects via hex editor.

[Simion32]

I need to edit objects via hex editor.

I've edited all the objects manually up until now using Geiger's SNES9x Debugger; with that method, any changes you make will show up immediately without you having to restart the ROM. You may have to move around a bit to get objects to move/appear, but it's better than that editor. In the editor you can't even see (or read for that matter) what you're editing, and you also can't drag/drop/copy/paste as far as I'm aware.

EDIT: Fixed typo.

[Raccoon Sam]

For the sake of anyone wanting to try the aforementioned method, it's Geiger's debugger, not Gieger's.

[Goe]

In that winrar file you can see vides of my hacks:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6CXHFY8Y

That videos are titled "DKC Hack" and "dk hack 2". I did them using hex codes and the program i used was translhextion. The first video are 3 hacks of Jungle hijinx, and the 2nd video is a hack of Coral Capers

Well, i'll show you some screenshots of my hacks, if you want to see more, download the file

[kingwhomp]

i am curently making a full-level hack called DKC126 i will post screans later and a ips patch when it is finished

[DKCplayer]

I've edited all the objects manually up until now using Geiger's SNES9x Debugger; with that method, any changes you make will show up immediately without you having to restart the ROM. You may have to move around a bit to get objects to move/appear, but it's better than that editor. In the editor you can't even see (or read for that matter) what you're editing, and you also can't drag/drop/copy/paste as far as I'm aware.

Never mind, I know how to edit objects on the DKC editor now. Bad news though, the water levels I can't edit at all.

[BlueTronic]

Me too. Those and Slipside Ride.

[BlueTronic]

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=N1FM03JZ
An Oil Drum Alley hack. I only did up to the midway barrel though.

[Simion32]

Looks fun... why not post an IPS patch? Or are you going to complete the level first?

[BlueTronic]

I was going to make an IPS Patch after I got to the halfway barrel, but I wanted to make this first.

[BlueTronic]

Here's an IPS Patch for the Reptile Rumble, Jungle Hijinx, and Oil Drum Alley hacks.

DKC Hack.ips

(3.5 KiB) Downloaded 2474 times

To go directly to the levels, use these codes:
Oil Drum Alley - 7E003E40
Reptile Rumble - 7E003E01

Next I'm making a Stop & Go Station level in a different level, and a Mine Cart Madness hack (I started on it in the IPS patch I just posted)

EDIT:
On the Reptile Rumble hack, I programmed that second bonus to send you back to the beginning so that you can go back and get the ballons that you missed. I don't know what did it, it just happened. You can't exit the level, and I don't know how that happened either. The giant Enguarde token doesn't give you anything, I just felt like replacing the smaller one with it. You can't get all of them, because there's a couple that are at the very top of the level and were supposed to be blast barrels that shot you down after bonuses. Maybe later I'll fix all these things and see if I can get all of them!

[Simion32]

Here's a few notes for anyone trying out the hacks:
- You don't have to patch the ROM if you're using ZSNES, it should be able to handle auto-patching.
- All DKC game saves are (or should be) compatible with every other version. Use this to access later levels in a different ROM version.

On the Reptile Rumble hack, I programmed that second bonus to send you back to the beginning so that you can go back and get the ballons that you missed. I don't know what did it, it just happened. You can't exit the level, and I don't know how that happened either.

That's caused when using the PAR code that sends you to Reptile Rumble. I was able to get into the bonus, as I wasn't using any PAR code to access the level. Bonuses are counted as levels as well, so it follows that bonus entrance objects are really just a special kind of "level warp". I think that with an ASM hack you could possibly siring together multiple Jungle levels, using the entrance/exit walls to transfer between levels.

[BlueTronic]

I figured that out sometime after I made that post. That was the reason I couldn't exit the level, too. Is it possible to make the level send back to the beginning without the game putting all the balloons back?

And I don't get how ZSNES "auto patches" a ROM.

[Simion32]

For the auto-patching, this is how it works:

Say you have a ROM named "123acb.smc", then rename your patch to "123acb.ips" and place it in the same folder as the ROM. It will then be auto patched in-memory by ZSNES when you load it, without modifying the actual ROM file.

I don't know if it's possible to get the same effect as that PAR code but only in Reptile Rumble.

[BlueTronic]

Here's an update to the Reptile Rumble hack

Lives in the Mines.ips

(687 Bytes) Downloaded 3396 times

In the beginning of Jungle Hijinx, I put a barrel cannon leading to the end of Ropey Rampage, so now you don't need that code to get to it. Now it's possible to get every life balloon, but it's hard. Especially if you don't know where all of them are like I do. I took out the other hacks and edits, like that Jungle Hijinx one that made it impossible to get through Jungle Hijinx without the code to send you to Reptile Rumble. I've changed several other things and it's way better than the other one.

Snapshots.zip

(238.89 KiB) Downloaded 2214 times

[Mattrizzle]

I don't have any level hacks, but here are some custom palettes I've added to the game.

forest_night.png (37.62 KiB) Viewed 155203 times

forest_sunset.png (41.4 KiB) Viewed 155203 times

temple_night.png (30.52 KiB) Viewed 155203 times

These actually don't replace any of the existing palettes. I added a subroutine to the game that loads palettes from a different bank from the normal ones.

You may be wondering where I found space in the ROM. Well, there's actually much more unused space in DKC than meets the eye...

[The Guy]

These are pretty nice palettes.

[Mattrizzle]

Tired of seeing Cranky spout out tips like this...

cranky's_w6_unpatched.png (51.23 KiB) Viewed 155102 times

...as late in the game as Chimp Caverns?

Well, now you don't have to.

cranky's_w6_patched.png (51.14 KiB) Viewed 155102 times

dkc_cranky_lvlhint_fix.ips
(NOTE: This version is obsolete. The updated version can be found with additional info here.)
With this patch, all of Cranky's unused level hints finally appear in the worlds they should be in. Normally, the problem is that the game doesn't check to see which Cranky's Cabin level you're in. It was as simple as adding this check in, and incrementing the accumulator in order to access a different world's text pointers.

I also removed all of the German text, as well as every trace of the unused Language menu. The new version no longer removes the German text or the Language menu.

[Scraps69]

Sounds pretty swell. Are you able to include your own text in Cranky's rants and advice?

EDIT: maybe we can integrate this feature into DKC Reloaded unless it'll mess everything up.

[Simion32]

EDIT: maybe we can integrate this feature into DKC Reloaded unless it'll mess everything up.

I also removed all of the German text, as well as every trace of the unused Language menu.
Warning: This patch shifts text around, so if you apply this to a hack, any changes you've made may be lost!

Nope, Reloaded also uses/overwrites the entire German level name text, courtesy of Blizzard Barrel Blast.

[Mattrizzle]

That's currently the only text change in the hack, isn't it? It wouldn't be that hard to reimplement it into the blank space and change Snow Barrel Blast's pointer.

[Simion32]

Oh, I was assuming you actually used that space for the hint patch. Never mind then.

Yeah, it would be just as easy to modify the text pointer to some nearby free space anyway.

[Mattrizzle]

The hint patch actually frees up space. Most of the text data is shifted by the patch because the German text pointers were removed, and I wanted to close the gaps that they left.

Anyway, I have more patches, four this time! The three spriteview patches are just that--sprite viewers for the North American versions of the three DKC games. These work by replacing the idle animation of the first Kong (Donkey in DKC1, Diddy in DKC2, Dixie in DKC3) with a sequence displaying most sprites in the order they're stored in the tilemap table. I say most instead of all because I programmed the sequences to skip the glitch sprites found at the start of these tables. A sound effect is played each time the first sprite is displayed, so you'll know when you've viewed all of them.

The patches behave very similarly to the glitch Krow111 describes in this thread, except without the crashing.

As for what the dkc_mystery patch does, check out D.K.'s house to find out...

Of course, it's less of a mystery now that I told you that.

dkc123_spriteview.zip

(70.17 KiB) Downloaded 2514 times

You'll notice something different about the patches this time around; they're in UPS format. My reason for this is that the IPS format is horribly outdated. Advantages of the UPS format are listed in this news post at Romhacking.net. Upset v04, the newest UPS creator/patcher by byuu, can be found here.

[Simion32]

Ah, very interesting patches Mattrizzle.

As for my response to the mystery:

Spoiler!

Simply replaced the sprite animations with ones from DKC3, correct?

Gave a chuckle or two when I saw what you'd done... it seems so out-of place!

So we should all be using this UPS format, hm? Seems to have been around for quite a while, but I've never bothered with it due to IPS being so commonplace.

It's looking to be extremely simple to implement, though I haven't logically figured out what all this crazy data-pointer encoding actually does (yeah, over 4GB files... but I'm trying to understand how it works atm)...
EDIT: Ah, I see what it's doing. Writing up BFA implementation now.

[Krow111]

I experimented with the patches. Nothing really unused here, except I found this sprite which comes after the fish shot out of K. Rool blunderbuss:
It might not be unused. It might be an in-game sprite but I can't tell what it is since it's in Diddy's palette.

[Mattrizzle]

That is the puddle that appears underneath seaweed-covered K. Rool in Krocodile Kore before he "cleans himself off" and fires said fish.

[Kingizor]

Minor hack of Super Donkey Kong 3 (V1.0) (J). Available as an ips or ups patch.

SDK3-ips-ups.zip

(901 Bytes) Downloaded 2407 times

--Insert description below--

Well, it's a glitch caused by hacking, sort of.. Certain objects seem to cause this to happen, although the same objects have a habit of crashing the game or the emulator. However, I think I've got it working correctly, so it shouldn't crash.

This is quite cool though..

Spoiler!

-- Watch the video here.. --

by the way, I used spoiler tags because I can't be bothered writing a vague description of what the patch actually does - Edit: I changed my mind and wrote a very brief description. And i think this font is too small, oh well, who cares? - And the uploaded file is zipped because the board won't allow the .ups extension.

[Mattrizzle]

Hmmm, what could this be?

[Simion32]

Wow. Excellent work, Mattrizzle!

I'm curious, how difficult was it? How was it done?

[Markster]

Hmmm, what could this be?

Your a genius.

[Mattrizzle]

There were definitely more than just a few steps involved here. If you don't want to read this, I understand!

One thing I did was optimize several of the tables. I started with the object collision box tables(3B8000-3BA425), removing all duplicates and updating the pointers. This freed up a whopping 0x6C8 bytes, which is way more than enough room to add in the four collision boxes required for Spiny's animation frames.

Second was finding enough space to add in the sprites. A side-by-side comparison with multiple versions of DKC (as well as a close look at the sprite pointer tables) shows that the 1.0 U version has loads of garbage data at the end of banks. The locations have been posted here.

Third was adding the animations. This required relocating the animation pointer table from 3E8572 to one of the newfound empty spaces (17FA3C). This allowed for 0x12A more animation pointers to be added. The code for the animation commands in DKC2 had to be compared with those in DKC(partly by looking at Diddy's animation data from both games). So the animations are near-exact ports.

The primary behavior code pointer tables(3F8177) and object palette data(3C81CC) were also relocated so they could be expanded. Rather than update the hundreds of pointers in the object definitions(35856D), I modified the palette loading subroutines(normally found at 3DF1F0, 3DF23A, and 3DF254) to "correct" pointers falling in the normal range.

I even created a new object function so that object definitions aren't limited to bank $B5.

Most of Spiny's primary behavior code is a duplicate of Gnawty's. However, a modified collision routine (based on the one found at 3FC703) was created, so that rolling into Spiny's backside hurts you. The y-speed and the animation displayed when defeated were also changed. Spiny's vulnerability flags ($11A1) are the same as Zinger's, so attempting to stomp hurts.

As with the animations, Spiny's object definitions (all 45 subtypes!) were mostly ported from DKC2 (DKC2's object definitions begin at 3F2A04, pointers are at 3BE800-3BF843). Here are several of the commands/RAM addresses and their DKC2 equivalents:

Spoiler!

Code: Select all

DKC      DKC2
00 80   =   00 80      End object data
00 81 nn NN  =   00 81 nn NN   Default animation(NNnn)
00 82 aa AA  =   00 83 aa AA   Retrieve object data at address AAaa
00 97 ff FF  =   00 85 ff FF   Orientation
00 88 pp PP  =   00 8D pp PP   Palette pointer(PPpp); In DKC2 this is an index value to the pointer table at 3D5FEE
45 0D   =   00 00   Primary behavior
8D 0B   =   02 00   Layer priority
B9 0D   =   04 00
19 0B   =   06 00   X-coordinate
21 0E   =   08 00
C1 0B   =   0A 00   Y-coordinate
69 0C   =   12 00   Flip (bit 6: X-flip; bit 7: Y-flip)
11 0D   =   1A 00   Current animation frame
ED 0D   =   1C 00
89 0E   =   20 00
F1 0E?   =   24 00   Y-speed?
25 0F   =   26 00   X-speed
8D 0F?   =   2A 00
29 10   =   2E 00
A1 11   =   30 00   Vulnerability flags
D1 10   =   36 00
05 11   =   38 00
39 11?   =   3A 00
6D 11   =   3C 00   Current Animation pointer
0D 13   =   3E 00
75 13   =   42 00   Multipurpose
E9 13   =   46 00   Multipurpose; horizontal movement range for b/f movement behavior
91 14   =   48 00   Multipurpose
C5 14   =   4A 00   Multipurpose
F9 14?   =   4E 00   Multipurpose
2D 15   =   52 00   Movement behavior

Oh, and Spiny isn't the first custom object I created, Neek was. Considering that the rat is little more than a graphic swap of Gnawty, it isn't very interesting.

I'll have to add the RAM addresses to Arnethegreat's RAM map eventually...

[VideoViking]

Could you also add a death SFX for Spiny using the Army death one? See this post.

[Mattrizzle]

That's a nifty list, but Spiny already has a death sound. I was trying to find a close resemblance to the Klomp walking sound that it used in DKC2, so I used #$28, the Millstone Rolling/Expresso Pecking sound. Turns out that it wasn't a good choice, as it blends right in with the Universal Object Hit sound. K. Rool's footstep sounds similar to it, though.

[Markster]

I have expanded Donkey Kong Country to 6.00MB, and it works in SNES 9X, but not in ZSNES, i also tried expanding it to 8.00MB, and it also works in SNES 9X, but still not in ZSNES, want to expand them yourself, well look up Lunar Expand and get a clean Donkey Kong Country USA Version 1.0 ROM file, but im not telling you where to get it, i will get banned, after downloading that open Lunar Expand, if you want to expand the ROM to 6.00MB, then click the "48 MBit ExHiROM (6 MB)" button, and for a 8.00MB ROM, Just click the "64 MBit ExHiROM (8 MB)" button, after that click the "Apply to ROM..." button and locate your ROM, i recommend you copy your original ROM file, and after that you should have a expanded Donkey Kong Country ROM.

Edit :
Go here for more : viewtopic.php?f=37&t=1059&start=0

[Simion32]

Markster, there's already a topic covering DKC ROM expansion.

[Markster]

Markster, there's already a topic covering DKC ROM expansion.

I forgot, sorry.

[Markster]

I made my own palette, like Mattrizzle, i made it in a little program called SNES Palette Editor, check it out...

EDIT : Installing it might be kinda hard though, i use a hex editor, i copy the palette code for the one i want to replace, go to the find feature in your hex editor, search for the hex, get the offset, then paste the hack into it, say you replace the brown caves, then paste the blue caves code over the brown caves code, there is a way to get the palettes without replacing any palettes, but its pretty hard, i dont know how to yet, im pretty sure it has something to do with subroutines, ask Mattrizzle.

EDIT 2 : Want to know what it looks like, well look at the attachment picture.

[Simion32]

Cool palette hack Markster.

How to make your Perched Neckys go really nutty:

BerserkPerchedNeckys.ips

Affects all Perched Neckys regardless of original speed.

(152 Bytes) Downloaded 2347 times

Just an interesting ASM and animation hack,
and I thought I'd post it - I did it a while back.

[Markster]

New hack I made, this hack adds not one, but two new levels to DKC, enjoy!

----------

DKC Double Level Hack.ips

(5.44 KiB) Downloaded 2161 times

[KingBrett]

What about mine? This can be used to be like you're inside a volcano. All the cave levels in my hack's Lost World will use that new palette (Except for Necky Nutmare as it is going to be a remake of the original from the GBC port) what do you guys think?

[HellFire]

It looks very nice, good job.

An idea I had some time ago for a different color of archetype was for the forest one, with old leaves, you know, instead of green leaves on the trees, orange-brown leaves, some changes in the terrain and other aspects should be changed as well so everything looks correct.

[Scraps69]

[File deleted. I'll repost it later]

[Mattrizzle]

With inspiration from the object test mode hidden in several of the Mega Man games, as well as the sprite viewer included in the earlier versions of DKCRE, I've decided to remake the sprite viewer patches I did previously. Unlike the previous versions, which replaced the first Kong's standing animation, these will each have their own screens separate from game play.

Here are screenshots of the first DKC's:

"Sprite Test" replaces the dummied-out "Language" option in the File Select menu.


In addition to several of the things that DKCRE's sprite viewer did, this allows you to flip the sprites horizontally and vertically.


It can also display the unused sprites.

EDIT 2/21/2012: DKC Sprite Viewer 2.0 is now complete! The patch can be downloaded here: http://mattrizzle.caffie.net/hacks/DKC Sprite Viewer 2.0.zip

[Mattrizzle]

DKC2 Sprite Viewer 2.0 is finished as well! This time I replaced the Stereo/Mono option with the Sprite Test, and forced the game to use stereo sound (who still uses mono nowadays, anyway?).



Here is a link to the patch: DKC2 Sprite Viewer 2.0.zip

[Tonberry2000]

Wow! Great!
So the cudgel/club are separate from their namesakes, huh? Awesome job.
Find anything cool with this?

[Mattrizzle]

Yes. For the characters made up of two layers of sprites, the frames for one layer are usually right before or after those for the other layer. For example, Sprite values 0xBCF to 0xBD9 are the frames of Klubba/Kudgel's swinging animation. 0xBDA to 0xBE4 are the corresponding frames in this animation for the club/cudgel.

The unused frames of Diddy on Rattly I posted at tSR were found using the viewer.

Here's some other things I've pinpointed, but haven't ripped yet:

• Not sure if this is unused, but there's a bat or crow with the Crocodile Isle map sprites. (Sprite Numbers: 0x2EE-0x30D; Palette Location: FD0C32) EDIT: This is used. Bats fly around K. Rool's Keep.
• The sharks that bite K. Rool after he falls from The Flying Krock have sprites for 16 different directions, yet only the first of these appears to be used--and the palette is even incorrect! (Sprite Numbers: 0x32A-0x339; Palette Location: FD0C52, but FD0C32 is used by it in the game)
• Leaves similar to those found in Gusty Glade and Windy Well are present as sprites in the data, but they only appear as part of layer 2 in the former and layer 3 in the latter. (Sprite Numbers: Leaf 1: 0x911-0x918, Leaf 2: 0x919-0x920, Leaf 3: 0x921-0x928; Palette Location: FD6E7A)
• A small rain cloud appears right after the unused mourning Diddy sprites. (Sprite Numbers: Cloud: 0xA9D-0xAA2, Rain: 0xAA3-0xAA7; Palette Location: FD6242)
• A breakable wall for an Enchanted Wood level using the Ghostly Grove palette. None of the bonus area entrances in levels of this type are on a completely vertical wall like that. (Sprite Number: 0xBF9; Palette Location: FD79C4)
• A breakable wall for the right side of a Castle level. At least one breakable wall does appear on the left side of a Castle level, but that uses a different sprite. (Sprite Number: 0xBFC; Palette Location: FD6354)
• Though the sprite itself isn't unused, the right side slanted breakable wall in Ghostly Grove (0xBFA) has three unused palettes: at FD63CC, FD63EA, and FD6408. The third one is very similar to FD79C4, which is used, but the first two don't match any existing level palettes for the Enchanted Wood levels!
• The Kremkoin has an unused palette at FD6FA6. The small version of it in the "Select File" screen uses another palette with the exact colors of this unused palette.
• Similarly, the DK Coin (a.k.a.: Hero Coin) also has an unused palette at FD6FC4. This palette includes red as its first nontransparent index, which none of the final sprites touch (the DK Coin sprites use no more than 15 colors, including transparency). This seems to suggest that the check mark on a collected DK coin was once red.

[Tonberry2000]

Very cool. I love stuff like this.

[Markster]

Awesome hacks! It is so advance.