This patch rewrites the game's save file handling by using DMA for saving and loading, leading to the most efficient handling. As a bonus, it also frees up the 141 bytes of RAM at $7E:1F49.
NOTE: You must apply this patch after you use Lunar Magic to modify any of the level's level flags on the overworld -- LM doesn't take into account the fact that $1F49 is never being used anymore.
Read the readme for information on including an address to be saved to SRAM/BWRAM.
This version now allows addresses to have default values.
The BWRAM is included because due to the nature of the sa-1 rom, SRAM doesn't exist, so use that instead of SRAM on a sa-1 rom, not SRAM.
Update: Fixed for compatibility with Lunar Magic v2.53.
changelog:
v1.3
--------------------
LX5's bwram_plus:
Fixed a bug init would happen after intro level's load, leading to weird issues with initialized RAMs. Example: if you remove the code that takes care of initializing manually the life counter and try to do that with bwram's default values, you will see your life counter suddenly jump from 1 to the right value. And many other issues of the same variation.
I also brought the load routine to the same hijack, so now the game chooses whether to init or load, instead of trying to do both. In v1.2, I had added a lock so that wouldn't happen, I removed it in this version. Both routines are running at the same hijack sram_plus uses now.
v1.2
--------------------
MarioE's sram_plus:
Fixed a bug it would restore a piece of code from the original game on top of a LM hijack (message sprite fix (shift+f8)) that would send you to the wrong OW submap.
v1.1
--------------------
LX5's bwram_plus:
Fixed a bug the patch would load a save even if there was no save to be loaded (values would be loaded with FF or whatever else was in the tables).
Fixed a bug the patch would write garbage to address+1, according to the tables, so dl $4013C7 : dw $0001 would write to 4013C7 and 4013C8.
ASM patches aren't rocket science, you literally just open Asar, insert the name of the ROM and the name of the patch. They can also be easily editable by advanced users by just opening them in a text editor like Notepad++ or VS Code or Sublime Text. IPS patches are opaque and require inserting and editing in like, hex editors. It's cumbersome for advanced users and restrains the info within said patches from being shared. Just because it's easy to use doesn't always mean it's good.
No, but it's not the ease of use that makes it bad. Besides, do I prefer editing specific data in a hex editor over having some weird table in which you have to write god knows what (no readme)? Yeah, any day. Hex editing is pretty universal. This requires certain instructions which aren't given.
But in the end, I see the use for asm files in general. Thanks for reminding me
Enough comprehension to understand edits to a ROM can be compiled into an IPS patch.
But not enough knowlegde to begin to understand why that's a terrible practice.
That's a completely subjective matter. I already named ease of use as a pro regarding IPS patches. It's no wonder they're widespread. Ease of use is by no means terrible.
They're terrible because they're usable only on specific ROMs (headered/unheadered, Japanese/US etc), they're static compiled data, so you can't, for example choose which freeram the patch you're inserting uses or the patch can't check if other patches have been inserted into the ROM that would have incompatibilities with the base version, IPS patches can't search for freespace in the ROM unlike asar patches and the user can't even change the freespace area used, which makes it even worse than xkas patches (and has a possibility of overwriting data already used for something else).
Also IPS patches obfuscate code and can't be easily modified unless you grab a hex editor for finding the differences after patching and a disassembler to recreate the patch.
And finally, IPS may be "easier to apply", but that's just comparing using a program which opens 2 dialogs for selecting files and 1 for saving versus a program where you have to type names of 2 files or drag the files into it and press enter.
Yeah, in the end it's very easy to apply most ASM patches, but then there's this one (which fair enough, seems to be an exception). No readme, no indication on what to do or what this patch is useful for in-game. This is where an ips/BPS patch saying "save Dragon Coins/Lives/Power ups would come in real handy for people who want just that. Now you got these seperate puzzle pieces that you need to stitch together in order to make proper use of SRAM plus.
But yes, by now it's clear my issue is more with this patch, rather than the .asm format in general.
ASM patches aren't rocket science, you literally just open Asar, insert the name of the ROM and the name of the patch. They can also be easily editable by advanced users by just opening them in a text editor like Notepad++ or VS Code or Sublime Text. IPS patches are opaque and require inserting and editing in like, hex editors. It's cumbersome for advanced users and restrains the info within said patches from being shared. Just because it's easy to use doesn't always mean it's good.
Enough comprehension to understand edits to a ROM can be compiled into an IPS patch.
But not enough knowlegde to begin to understand why that's a terrible practice.
That's a completely subjective matter. I already named ease of use as a pro regarding IPS patches. It's no wonder they're widespread. Ease of use is by no means terrible.
They're terrible because they're usable only on specific ROMs (headered/unheadered, Japanese/US etc), they're static compiled data, so you can't, for example choose which freeram the patch you're inserting uses or the patch can't check if other patches have been inserted into the ROM that would have incompatibilities with the base version, IPS patches can't search for freespace in the ROM unlike asar patches and the user can't even change the freespace area used, which makes it even worse than xkas patches (and has a possibility of overwriting data already used for something else).
Also IPS patches obfuscate code and can't be easily modified unless you grab a hex editor for finding the differences after patching and a disassembler to recreate the patch.
And finally, IPS may be "easier to apply", but that's just comparing using a program which opens 2 dialogs for selecting files and 1 for saving versus a program where you have to type names of 2 files or drag the files into it and press enter.
Enough comprehension to understand edits to a ROM can be compiled into an IPS patch.
But not enough knowlegde to begin to understand why that's a terrible practice.
That's a completely subjective matter. I already named ease of use as a pro regarding IPS patches. It's no wonder they're widespread. Ease of use is by no means terrible.
My goodness! Every single game uses simple IPS/BPS patches for stuff like this, but for some reason, the game with the biggest hacking community in the world needs cumbersome .asm patches, which are hard for newcomers to decipher and oftentimes (given the comments on many of these patch download pages) riddled with issues.
Why do people need to get through this list of issues before they can save their lives/Dragon Coins with the game? Super Mario Bros. 3 has a hack that incorporates SMB1, SMB2, SMB2US and full save features to all, with a single .ips file.
I think that maybe you should not comment on matters that you have little comprehension of my friend.
EDIT: The NES which is the console that ran the SMB1, SMB2, SMB2US and SMB3 cartridges, are EXTREMELY different than its successor the SNES and the have completely different hardware/software capability's and as newer systems go the SNES is considerably more complex than the NES both in its architecture and engineering.
Enough comprehension to understand edits to a ROM can be compiled into an IPS patch.
Originally posted by description of SRAM and BW-Ram Plus v1.3
NOTE: You must apply this patch after you use Lunar Magic to modify any of the level's level flags on the overworld -- LM doesn't take into account the fact that $1F49 is never being used anymore.
So I assemble the patch again after I modify any level flags? Or after I assemble the patch I should not modify level flags anymore?
My goodness! Every single game uses simple IPS/BPS patches for stuff like this, but for some reason, the game with the biggest hacking community in the world needs cumbersome .asm patches, which are hard for newcomers to decipher and oftentimes (given the comments on many of these patch download pages) riddled with issues.
Why do people need to get through this list of issues before they can save their lives/Dragon Coins with the game? Super Mario Bros. 3 has a hack that incorporates SMB1, SMB2, SMB2US and full save features to all, with a single .ips file.
I think that maybe you should not comment on matters that you have little comprehension of my friend.
EDIT: The NES which is the console that ran the SMB1, SMB2, SMB2US and SMB3 cartridges, are EXTREMELY different than its successor the SNES and the have completely different hardware/software capability's and as newer systems go the SNES is considerably more complex than the NES both in its architecture and engineering.
My goodness! Every single game uses simple IPS/BPS patches for stuff like this, but for some reason, the game with the biggest hacking community in the world needs cumbersome .asm patches, which are hard for newcomers to decipher and oftentimes (given the comments on many of these patch download pages) riddled with issues.
Why do people need to get through this list of issues before they can save their lives/Dragon Coins with the game? Super Mario Bros. 3 has a hack that incorporates SMB1, SMB2, SMB2US and full save features to all, with a single .ips file.
If you're a beginner like me, you're having trouble using this patch. Because of this I will leave the code of the RAM addresses, which I used in my hack!
Code
sram_table: dl $7E1EA2 : dw $008D ;Default Code
dl $7E0019 : dw $0001 ;Mario's Powerup
dl $7E0DB9 : dw $0001 ;Luigi's Powerup
dl $7E0DC2 : dw $0001 ;Mario's Item Box
dl $7E0DBD : dw $0001 ;Luigi's Item Box
dl $7E0DBE : dw $0001 ;Mario's Lives
dl $7E0DB5 : dw $0001 ;Luigi's Lives
dl $7E13C7 : dw $0001 ;Mario's Yoshi Color
dl $7E0DBB : dw $0001 ;Luigi's Yoshi Color
dl $7E0DBF : dw $0001 ;Mario's Coins
dl $7E0DB7 : dw $0001 ;Luigi's Coins
dl $7E0F34 : dw $0003 ;Mario's Score
dl $7E0F37 : dw $0003 ;Luigi's Score
dl $7E0F48 : dw $0001 ;Mario's Bonus
dl $7E0F49 : dw $0001 ;Luigi's Bonus
dl $7E0DC1 : dw $0001 ;Yoshi Overworld
dl $7E1F2F : dw $000C ;Yoshi Coin Collected
.end
sram_defaults: db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
db $00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00,$00
To use, add the code in the sram_table.asm file, in the corresponding location. This code has multiple RAM addresses, while using the code your game will be able to save powerup, item box, yoshi, yoshi coin, coin, score, and bonus score. If you want to remove some code, just delete the line of code and the number of bytes corresponding to the deleted code.
Remember that for the patch to work you need to apply the patch posted by Tattletale and that the default code line should never be deleted.
For those wanting to save powerups, coins, lives, yoshi and stuff like that:
First things first, those values are getting saved and loaded properly, issue is, the game hard-resets these values after load save - happens at $009E1C. I didn't add a patch to ignore that inside this pack because it's not in this pack's responsibility to do that.
Here's a patch that ignores the hard-reset:
Made by Ladida.
Issue is though, when you do that, the game also lets you bring the showoff level yoshi to the intro level and then to the OW. So make sure to initialize and save this RAM 7E0DC1, like this:
for normal ROMs:
Code
sram_table:
dl $7E0DC1 : dw $0001
sram_defaults:
db $00
for sa-1:
Code
bw_ram_table:
dl $400DC1 : dw $0001
bw_ram_defaults:
db $00
Also make sure to initialize / save whatever else you are using.
EDIT 2019/01/13:
If you also want to save stars and score, change that patch to:
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