So waaaaaaaaay back at Christmas I posted a hacking utility for Micro Machines 2 along with some hacking notes. Well, I saw #6000 approaching and figured I'd do some updating, so here it is. Proudly presenting: Micro Machines Track Selector v1.10 Download and install to any directory, then run. You'll need the VB6 runtimes installed. The ROMs aren't too hard to find, so I'm not supplying any this time. =P So, what's new? First off, the original app only supported the non J-Cart version of MM2 - 1.10 now adds support for the J-Cart version of the ROM. I've also added both versions of Micro Machines 96 and Micro Machines Military, too - I did look into doing the 2 versions of Micro Machines 1, but there's no Time Trial Mode to have selectable tracks from so support for this isn't being added. Screenshot showing the new Micro Machines Military support: Do I see a v1.20 being released? At this point, no. I've done the entire Mega Drive range, which are the only ones that directly interest me - I suppose I could do GG and SNES at some point but Mega Drive is where the series has truely belonged, as anyone who's played this series in any depth knows. Enjoy! Oh, you're still here? I guess you must be after the hacking notes like I posted in the MM2 thread, huh? I suppose I can indulge. =P Code (Text): Micro Machines 2 (J-Cart) The location for the level order is at 0x3EA46 in this ROM. The J-Cart version has the helicopter level in this list switched with the other helicopter level in the game. (2D replaces 2E) Why was this change made? o_O Code (Text): Micro Machines 96 (regular and J-Cart) Hacking Notes 0xe801: visible track-change RAM location 0x4548B: track names 0x452C5: Track order (27 bytes - same location in both ROMs) Raw order: 02 40 33 16 05 2D 3C 1C 01 09 0D 19 30 08 17 24 13 27 0E 1D 31 2C 3F 22 2A 3E 29 PLAYABLE TRACK LISTINGS 00: Raining Champ (4 X 4, Pro) 01: Treehouse Tiles (4 X 4, Pro) 02: BBQ Burnoff (Forumla 1, Midi Mayhem) 03: Step On It (Open Top, Pro) 04: Stamper Stress (Vintage Cars, Midi Mayhem) 05: Printer Panic (Vintage Cars, Midi Mayhem) 06: Plate Hop (Supercars, Midi Mayhem) 07: Windy Willows (4 X 4, Pro) 08: Cob Challenge (Dump Trucks, Short Spin) 09: Roller Coaster (Open Top, Pro) 0A: Jelly Jive (Dump Trucks, Midi Mayhem) 0B: ATV Action (ATV, Midi Mayhem) 0C: Desktop Drama (Vintage Cars, Midi Mayhem) 0D: Hover Havoc (Hovercraft, Midi Mayhem) 0E: Frosty Frolics (ATV, Short Spin) 0F: Water Chase (Hovercraft, Midi Mayhem) 10: Training Camp (Formula 1, Short Spin) 12: Ball Chase (Sportscars, Pro) 13: Pool Slalom (Sportscars, Mini Micro) 14: Cue Capers (Sportscars, Midi Mayhem) 15: Ball Bonanza (Sportscars, Pro) 16: Jet Joust (Jet Planes, Turbo) 17: Tidal Trouble (Buggies, Pro) 18: Aerial Action (Jet Planes, Turbo) 19: Mach 1 Mayhem (Jet Planes, Turbo Pro) 1A: Bubble Trouble (Hovercraft, Midi Mayhem) 1B: Dervish Danger (Buggies, Pro) 1C: Picnic Problems (Buggies, Pro) 1D: Crossing Chaos (Bugs, Pro) 1E: Loco Larks (Cop Cars, Midi Mayhem) 1F: Turbo Blast (Bugs, Turbo Pro) 21: Toaster Trouble (Supercars, Pro) 22: Ferry Fiasco (Supercars, Pro) 24: Basement Bumps (Off Roaders, Midi Mayhem) 25: Ceiling Circuit (Off Roaders, Midi Mayhem) 27: Bathtub Burnoff (Dragsters, Turbo) 29: Tent Tussle (Formula 1, Pro) 2A: Turbo Turns (Open Top, Turbo Pro) 2B: Bean Boogie (Formula 1, Pro) 2C: Running Riot (Go Karts, Pro) 2D: Bench Blast (Go Karts, Pro) 2E: Gym Nasties (Go Karts, Pro) 2F: Vice Squad (Rally Cars, Short Spin) 30: Driller Killer (Rally Cars, Short Spin) 31: Chainsaw Chase! (Rally Cars, Midi Mayhem) 32: Pool Problems (Sportscars, Share Game) 33: Hammer Havoc (Rally Cars, Midi Mayhem) 34: Banked Oval (Buggies, Turbo) 35: Tree Trouble (Sportscars, Share Game) 36: Tiny Trees (Sportscars, Share Game) 3C: Candle Chaos (Off Roaders, Midi Mayhem) 3D: Paper Pranks (Open Top, Midi Mayhem) 3E: Bunsen Bother (Solar Cars, Pro) 3F: Electric Energy (Solar Cars, Pro) 40: Science Lab (Solar Cars, Pro) 41: Treetop Tremors (4 X 4, Pro) Garbled levels/unplayable/crash the game 11: Pro Hovercraft (Hovercraft, Pro) (garbled tiles, unplayable) 20: Barrier Blocker (Cop Cars, Pro) (garbled tiles, unplayable) 23: OLDTRACK (Off Roaders, Pro) (garbled tiles, unplayable) 26: OLDTRACK (Off Roaders, Turbo) (garbled tiles, unplayable) 28: OLDTRACK (Dragsters, Midi Mayhem) (crashes game, ROM resets) 39: 3 Wins Bonus! (Super Monsters, Extra Life Game) (loads but cannot drive without forced respawning) 3A: 3 Wins Bonus! (Super Monsters, Extra Life Game) (loads but uncompleteable due to not being a circuit) 3B: 3 Wins Bonus! (Super Monsters, Extra Life Game) (loads but cannot drive without forced respawning) 42: constmap (4 X 4, Pro) (garbled tiles, unplayable) Any other number (instantly crashes game to black screen on highlight, ROM resets) These tracks only exist by name in the ASCII text of the track names at 0x50E65. If you add them into the game, it skips over them (and noticably, EG if you had 01 02 37 03, the track 03 would still be numbered 4 in the track listings, they'd just go 1 --> 2 --> 4 37: 3 Wins Bonus! (Does not appear as selectable level) 38: 3 Wins Bonus! (Does not appear as selectable level) Bonus screenshot - one of the OLDTRACK pictures in-game: Note how the course diagram is all over the place - because it doesn't have any data to draw one with! Some of these tracks will use the same data as the previous level viewed, though. Speaking of them, I count 3 OLDTRACKs (probably just tracks ported over from Micro Machines 2 - like a lot of the tracks in this game are, Codemasters were quite lazy in that respect - and later removed; and 2 tracks that are garbled - probably removed later in development. constmap is just a fucking WEIRD one. o_O There are also two 3 Wins Bonus! tracks that are unable to be displayed in the menu screens - probably earlier versions of the bonus levels that were later abandoned (I don;t think any Micro Machines game has ever had more than 3 - if you add these 2 in at one point this game had 5 slots for it). Code (Text): Micro Machines Military Hacking Notes 0xd6b0 OR 0xe853 - visible track-change RAM locations 0x50CDC: 20 bytes, the level order raw order: 01 03 06 0b 0d 0f 14 17 1a 1b 02 05 08 0a 0c 11 12 16 19 1d 00-1d - regular tracks 1f-3f - battle tracks, broken in Time Trial mode 40-43 - share tracks (laggy due to being designed for 4-8 players) 44 onwards - crash These tracks only exist by name in the ASCII text of the track names at 0x50E65. If you add them into the game, it skips over them (and noticably, EG if you had 01 02 2f 03, the track 03 would still be numbered 4 in the track listings, they'd just go 1 --> 2 --> 4 2F: Still Life - removed 37: Bath Time - removed 38: Keep On Grass - removed PLAYABLE TRACK LISTINGS 00: Dung Danger (Tank, Skirmish) 01: Funny Farm (Tank, Skirmish) 02: Pecking Pains (Tank, Veteran) 03: Ski Lift Larks (Skidoo, Veteran) 04: Triple Hop (Skidoo, Campaign) 05: Bird Bath Blues (Skidoo, Campaign) 06: Cricket Capers (Supply Truck, Veteran) 07: Snail Trail (Supply Truck, Campaign) 08: Pump Panic (Supply Truck, Skirmish) 09: Picnic Pranks (Armoured, Campaign) 0A: Spud Gun Run (Armoured, Veteran) 0B: Tunnel Vision (Armoured, Skirmish) 0C: Desert Storm (Helicopter, Campaign) 0D: Measure Up (Helicopter, Campaign) 0E: Drill Thrill (Helicopter, Veteran) 0F: Tongue Tied (Mine Layer, Campaign) 10: Cherub Falls (Mine Layer, Veteran) 11: Fish Face (Mine layer, Campaign) 12: Sparkler Slalom (Land Skimmer, Campaign) 13: Banger Bonanza (Land Skimmer, Veteran) 14: Fire Flyer (Land Skimmer, Skirmish) 15: Rockery Mockery (Jeep, Campaign) 16: Water Spurts (Jeep, Campaign) 17: Speed Special (Turbo Jeep, Veteran) 18: Spinning Seeds (Jet, Veteran) 19: Windy Woes (Jet, Veteran) 1A: Bee Bother (Jet, Veteran) 1B: Mine Enemy (Warrior, Veteran) 1C: Missile Menace (Warrior, Campaign) 1D: Spike Spinner (Warrior, Campaign) 40: Picnic Poser (Armoured, Share Game) 41: Bench Mark (Armoured, Share Game) 42: Damp Forest (Supply Truck, Share Game) 43: 8 player 4 (Supply Truck, Share Game) The Battle tracks do display on the main screen, albeit with the same garbled mess of a track diagram as the OLDTRACK listed above. Note here 3 removed tracks that only exist as names in the ROM - I can only assume they were abandoned at some point for unknown reasons, though "Keep On Grass" might have been removed due to a possible drugs reference. =P A name change isn't hard, but if they were looking for ANY reason to drop a level...
I often play MM2/96 on my XBOX using the XPort version of Gens. All of the XPort emulators have really great RAM modifying utilities so it's easy to create a new cheat code. The way I accessed the levels was by finding the number of the page on the level select screen and messing with that till I got the level I wanted. I think that when forcing the page number past 27 it overflows onto whatever random data comes after it, so there are lots of repeats, crashes and the like. Thanks for this utility, it'll come in handy I'd love to see Micro Machines 1/2/96/M reverse engineered and re-implemented with a proper track editor and stuff. I'm thinking of doing a remake myself but I'm a terrible coder. EDIT: It would be interesting to take a look at the SNES version of Micro Machines 2. It seems to have been made in-between the Genesis versions of 2 and 96. The physics feel wrong though.
