PKMS Game Boy Tower - Rom Patcher (gbpatch) v0.1 beta

[saturnu]

hello,
here is something to play with on the weekend. ^^

on LuigiStars thread about non-pokemon games on the gb tower, it seems like it's a little bit to tricky for some guys to get the patching right.

yeah, its possible. you change the roms to make pms think its a pokemon game and it let you to play others than pokemon, but its kind hard to do this =/

so i spent some minutes to hack up a patcher. it's in beta status and may have some bugs. ^^

you need two roms, the game you want to play (should be smaller than the pkm rom) and a playable pokemon game boy rom.
if you want you can use the libgbpak demo tool to dump those roms directly on the ed64.
https://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=1548.0


i've only tested "Pokemon Blue", but others should work, too.

run: gbpatch_GUI.exe

now the patcher should create a rom named gbtower.gb

the next step is to copy the rom onto a flashcart.

here is my edgb loader thread for more infos on that:
https://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=1780.0

changelog:
v0.1.1:
gui added

v.0.1.2:
fix file path problem in gui

download v0.1.2:
https://a.pomf.cat/uqzwnw.zip
https://pomf.pyonpyon.moe/zrhhgu.zip

example:



loading


picross


super mario land

[Kyle]

This is great saturnu! What is the quality of the emulation?

[saturnu]

i have only tried these two games so far. ^^

changelog v0.1.1:
added a quick'n'dirty gui program, 'cause some people can't use the command line

[saturnu]

results of my investigation so far.

pkms gb tower:
Super Mario Land - Pokemon Blue - works and is fast enough
Mario's Picross  - Pokemon Blue - works and is fast enough

pkms2 gb tower:
Dr. Mario - Pokemon Blue - works and is fast enough

[LuigiStar]

hello,
here is something to play with on the weekend. ^^

on LuigiStars thread about non-pokemon games on the gb tower, it seems like it's a little bit to tricky for some guys to get the patching right.

yeah, its possible. you change the roms to make pms think its a pokemon game and it let you to play others than pokemon, but its kind hard to do this =/

so i spent some minutes to hack up a patcher. it's in beta status and may have some bugs. ^^

you need two roms, the game you want to play (should be smaller than the pkm rom) and a playable pokemon game boy rom.
if you want you can use the libgbpak demo tool to dump those roms directly on the ed64.
https://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=1548.0


i've only tested "Pokemon Blue", but others should work, too.

run: gbpatch_GUI.exe

now the patcher should create a rom named gbtower.gb

the next step is to copy the rom onto a flashcart.

here is my edgb loader thread for more infos on that:
https://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=1780.0

download:
https://a.pomf.cat/jalyvs.zip

example:



loading


picross


super mario land

Thank you very much, Saturnu!

I tested Zelda Oracle Of Ages and it doesn´t work, I think that ROMs with equal size doesn´t work.

Only smaller than Pokémon ROM as you said.

I ask: This can be corrected?

I detected another error:

error: Faild to open rom
          being really verbose.
I tested in 3 games to inject in a Pokémon ROM:

-Zelda Oracle Of Ages-Pokémon Crystal: FAIL.

-Zelda Link´s Awakening DX-Pokémon Crystal: FAIL.

-Super Mario Land-Pokemon Yellow: FAIL.

Greetings.

[saturnu]

i have to check, if the gui has some issues with blanks in the file path.
-> fixed in v0.1.2

pokemon crystal is using a MBC3 mapper
so i guess the emulator isn't working with MBC5 games

if you use pokemon blue, green, yellow or red shouldn't matter at all



 00h  ROM ONLY                 15h  MBC4
 01h  MBC1                     16h  MBC4+RAM
 02h  MBC1+RAM                 17h  MBC4+RAM+BATTERY
 03h  MBC1+RAM+BATTERY         19h  MBC5
 05h  MBC2                     1Ah  MBC5+RAM
 06h  MBC2+BATTERY             1Bh  MBC5+RAM+BATTERY
 08h  ROM+RAM                  1Ch  MBC5+RUMBLE
 09h  ROM+RAM+BATTERY          1Dh  MBC5+RUMBLE+RAM
 0Bh  MMM01                    1Eh  MBC5+RUMBLE+RAM+BATTERY
 0Ch  MMM01+RAM                20h  MBC6
 0Dh  MMM01+RAM+BATTERY        22h  MBC7+SENSOR+RUMBLE+RAM+BATTERY
 0Fh  MBC3+TIMER+BATTERY
 10h  MBC3+TIMER+RAM+BATTERY   FCh  POCKET CAMERA
 11h  MBC3                     FDh  BANDAI TAMA5
 12h  MBC3+RAM                 FEh  HuC3
 13h  MBC3+RAM+BATTERY         FFh  HuC1+RAM+BATTERY

[LuigiStar]

i have to check, if the gui has some issues with blanks in the file path.
-> fixed in v0.1.2

pokemon crystal is using a MBC3 mapper
so i guess the emulator isn't working with MBC5 games

if you use pokemon blue, green, yellow or red shouldn't matter at all



 00h  ROM ONLY                 15h  MBC4
 01h  MBC1                     16h  MBC4+RAM
 02h  MBC1+RAM                 17h  MBC4+RAM+BATTERY
 03h  MBC1+RAM+BATTERY         19h  MBC5
 05h  MBC2                     1Ah  MBC5+RAM
 06h  MBC2+BATTERY             1Bh  MBC5+RAM+BATTERY
 08h  ROM+RAM                  1Ch  MBC5+RUMBLE
 09h  ROM+RAM+BATTERY          1Dh  MBC5+RUMBLE+RAM
 0Bh  MMM01                    1Eh  MBC5+RUMBLE+RAM+BATTERY
 0Ch  MMM01+RAM                20h  MBC6
 0Dh  MMM01+RAM+BATTERY        22h  MBC7+SENSOR+RUMBLE+RAM+BATTERY
 0Fh  MBC3+TIMER+BATTERY
 10h  MBC3+TIMER+RAM+BATTERY   FCh  POCKET CAMERA
 11h  MBC3                     FDh  BANDAI TAMA5
 12h  MBC3+RAM                 FEh  HuC3
 13h  MBC3+RAM+BATTERY         FFh  HuC1+RAM+BATTERY

Link´s Awakening + Pokémon Yellow = SUCCESS (They use MBC5).

Zelda Oracle Of Ages + Pokémon Crystal = SUCCESS? (They use different mappers (MBC5, MBC3, respectively), but the GUI generated me a gbtower (2048 kb) ROM.

The gbtower ROMs doesn´t work in VBA, so I guess that only work in a GB flashcart and Pokémon Stadium 1/2.

This method works on EMS Smart Card 64M? Or only in EDGB?

Greetings.

[saturnu]

i'm using a gamecube with a game boy player to load the game on a edgb and then i power it off.
after that i use the edgb loader app and a modded transfer pak to set the edgb in game mode and than i load up pkms.

other flashcarts may work out of the box, if they doesn't reset itself to a menu.

[LuigiStar]

i'm using a gamecube with a game boy player to load the game on a edgb and then i power it off.
after that i use the edgb loader app and a modded transfer pak to set the edgb in game mode and than i load up pkms.

other flashcarts may work out of the box, if they doesn't reset itself to a menu.

Sadly, I have only an Everdrive 64 (for now), and I cannot really test it.

Wouldn't hacking the Pokemon Stadium rom to allow any game size/header for a Game Boy game be a simpler and more permanent solution?

And, the Doduo/Dodrio Tower works, I say, the speed multiplier (x2/x3) works?

Greetings.

[saturnu]

yes maybe,
but i'm not very interested in doing that. i have a super game boy and a game boy player with real hardware.
i don't know why anybody should really care about this tricky thing on the gb tower.
even a game boy emulator on a wii would be better.

[LuigiStar]

yes maybe,
but i'm not very interested in doing that. i have a super game boy and a game boy player with real hardware.
i don't know why anybody should really care about this tricky thing on the gb tower.
even a game boy emulator on a wii would be better.

Well, yes...

Playing GameBoy games on a N64 would not have the best idea and isn´t easy at all.

Anyway, thank you for do this, I have a Super Gameboy too, but that doesn´t work with GBC.

Actually there´s a N64 cartridge for play GBC and even GBA games (WideBoy 64), but is too expensive (around 1000 euros).

Be happy with the GameBoy Player. Gamecube controllers are the best controllers in the world.

Greetings.

PD: Read this: http://gamehacking.org/vb/threads/3387-Pokemon-Stadium-Play-Any-GB-Game-Test?highlight=ugetab+game+boy

The long gameshark code recognize any game as Pokémon Red, but if you go to the GB Tower, the Transfer Pak give an error.

There´s another gameshark for Pokémon Stadium 2, but I don´t really know how it works:

Enable Controller 1 Game Pack (mimics Red)
81128574 0100

[LuigiStar]

The ROM Patcher doesn´t work with Pokémon Yellow, Gold, Silver and Crystal (with this barely works).

I have a trick, but I don´t know yet if this work:

With a Pokémon Blue ROM (1.024kb) and a Hex Editor (HxD) you can extend the ROM size based 00 00 00 00 00... and then you can patch ROMs bigger than 1Mbyte.

Example:

Zelda Oracle Of Ages is 2Mbyte and Pokémon Blue, 1Mbyte. Adding many 0 on Pokémon Blue with a Hex Editor, you can equal the size of Zelda or even more.

I tested this in 2 emulators, no with a GB flashcart:

VBA: "This game is only for GBC".

VBA-M: The game temporality works, but  when I start a new game, the game crush.

BGB: The same as VBA-M, but more glitchy.

I don´t know if Pokémon Stadium games have cartridge size check.

Greetings.

[omega]

Gamecube gameboy player FTW. (with GBI software driving the GB player).

cheers.

[saturnu]

i have a ngc with game boy player and the alternate GBI (i use the low latency version), but that's not the point of this thread.
we are just playing around a bit, nobody really wants to use this for actual playing.


btw. i added some mapper info on my edgb loader thread.
https://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=1780.0

i found out, that the US, JP and EU roms are using different mappers. ^^

e.g.
MBC3 Pokemon - Blue Version (USA, Europe) (SGB Enhanced) -> US Pokemon Stadium
MBC5 Pokemon - Blaue Edition (Germany) (SGB Enhanced) -> EU Pokemon Stadium
MBC1 Pocket Monsters - Ao (Japan) (SGB Enhanced) -> JP Pokemon Stadium

[LuigiStar]

i have a ngc with game boy player and the alternate GBI (i use the low latency version), but that's not the point of this thread.
we are just playing around a bit, nobody really wants to use this for actual playing.


btw. i added some mapper info on my edgb loader thread.
https://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=1780.0

i found out, that the US, JP and EU roms are using different mappers. ^^

e.g.
MBC3 Pokemon - Blue Version (USA, Europe) (SGB Enhanced) -> US Pokemon Stadium
MBC5 Pokemon - Blaue Edition (Germany) (SGB Enhanced) -> EU Pokemon Stadium
MBC1 Pocket Monsters - Ao (Japan) (SGB Enhanced) -> JP Pokemon Stadium

I found out that Zelda Oracle Of Ages (USA, NOT Europe) has 1,024kb instead of 2,048kb, so I don´t need make Pokémon Blue ROM bigger, and I works better than the Europe Zelda ROM, but I crashed after talking with anyone.

I´ll test Pokémon Yellow ROM with mapper MBC5.

Greetings.