[Travelsonic]

After looking at a post in the old Aaron in Japan message board (http://p094.ezboard....icID=1611.topic), where a breakdown of the Song Definitions (name, song ID, diffuculties, groove radar stuff, etc - not music/steps)(page 3), and a complete dump of the DDR EXTREME (JP PS2) Song Definitions could be found (page 4), I wondered something.

Would it be possible to take the last song definition, and replace it with a pointer pointing at the end of the file

THEN

paste that removed definition, and "dummy" definitions for the 120 songs that were in the arcade versions, but not in the PS2 JP version?

If so, as it has been a while since I even touched hacking, how should I go about it?

If it works, would it add 120 dummy music slots in the music select screen?

[Vangar]

I think its possible to add the 120 dummy slots, but you won't be able to put in anything like banners or steps or songs. This will increase the iso size for a start, and emulators, cd burners etc won't function properly. Similar to the megadrive's 4MB limit, I'm sure psx emulators and consoles won't take over 700Mb discs.

[Soda]

It's a PS2 game, though, and holds like 4 gigs or whatever. I don't know the exact number.

I don't know if that actually makes a difference, just thought I'd point it out.

[Travelsonic]

Vangar, on Mar 2 2008, 11:21 PM, said:

I think its possible to add the 120 dummy slots, but you won't be able to put in anything like banners or steps or songs. This will increase the iso size for a start, and emulators, cd burners etc won't function properly. Similar to the megadrive's 4MB limit, I'm sure psx emulators and consoles won't take over 700Mb discs.

Actually, PS2 games can easily be around 4 gigs. ITG (In the Groove), which is rediculously easy to hack (being a variant of the SM 3.95 source) btw hence why it might be a bad example, can have something like 400 songs all together, and that is just before the game won't load correctly. At like 500 songs, the game crashes.

I'd like to start by adding dummy slots, then work towards adding songs/steps. It actually has been done in arcade games, IIRC, it can be done for the PS2 games. the formats/methodology just needs to be uncovered.

How should I go about adding the dummy slots? Even if the only difference between the slots is the name, and they retain the preview/banner of the copied slot, this would be a great starting point.

This post has been edited by Travelsonic: 01 May 2008 - 04:17 AM

[Soda]

Is there some particular reason you're trying to do this with Extreme instead of just using ITG? Or SM, for that matter.

[Travelsonic]

-The challenge

-The satisfaction of trying to pull off something thought about but hardly ever tried

-I'v hacked the sh-I'm stupid-it out of ITG already, though I'm doing it again after losing my disk.

Another tidbit: Most PS2 DDR games only use a third of the alotted disk space on a PS2 disk.

This post has been edited by Travelsonic: 01 May 2008 - 12:55 PM

[Soda]

Fair enough.

And that last tidbit used to annoy me to no end when it came to US DDR releases. I saw games like Extreme JP that had 110 songs, and yet we only go ~70 per release? Wtf. Double wtf because half of those 70 were always awful.

I say "used to" because now we've got an R21 ITG2 dedicab ~20 minutes away :D

This post has been edited by Soda: 01 May 2008 - 02:53 PM

[Travelsonic]

Time to make a disassembly of the SLPM file... unless the original idea (take the last definition, replace it with a pointer to the EOF, where the dummy definition data starts) works as a beginning step.

This post has been edited by Travelsonic: 01 May 2008 - 03:22 PM

[Travelsonic]

Hey guys, I got a question or two that can determine in part how do-able DDR EXTREME hacking can be.

I extracted the filedata.bin. From reading the disassembly of the SLPM file, it seems that within the BIN are folders, with the step data, banners, graphics, course data, etc. I am guessing this seeing things like "data/course/cos01.ta.tim" referring to the loading of a TIM graphic file (course banner? Definately compressed). Is there any way to try and extract the files in their respective folders from the BIN file? That would sure as hell make combining files from other games easier.

If not my next option could be for combining filedata.bin from MAX2 and EXTREME, and changing references in the EXTREME SLPM to the MAX2 files to see if it loads correctly. That in of itself would be a BIG breakthrough.

This post has been edited by Travelsonic: 11 August 2008 - 07:32 AM

[Travelsonic]

Yes I AM bumping up a really old thread of years - but being the one who started it, I'd rather bump it with new info than making a new thread.
After some time off from hacking DDR PS2 games, mainly because of my studies in Comp. Sci taking precedent, I've gotten back into it using a hex editor + ISO, disassembler [IDA PRO FTW :D ], and old information from the site Aaron in Japan.

A couple of screenshots [DDRMAX2 JP [PS2] ] + description:

Spoiler

255 BPM? Burning Heat! (3 Option MIX) is supposed to be 166 BPM!
And ... 15 FOOT HEAVY RATING? WTF?!

[the purple artifacts are from the emulator - I have it better configured in the next screnshot.]

Spoiler

Burning Heat! (3 Option MIX) is supposed to be in the green grouping, 3rd slot down from the Roulette - and normally only appears in the purple grouping in the arcade version... well, that was true until I managed to swap song wheel locations. :D

I've already found references to the various file data files on the disk - wonder if anyone was interested in helping me figure some stuff out regarding if those are used for loading the data, and specifics about how the data is loaded.

This post has been edited by Travelsonic: 27 August 2013 - 09:23 AM