HiToText (Version 2010.11.4).

[Fyrecrypts]

Whew, I am so behind, but that's good! Thanks for all the help everyone. =)

[dna disturber]

(toki) * no clones because they take a different chunk of code (information hiscore.dat)


0-3   score number 1
4-7   score number 2
...
76-79   score number 20
-------------------------------------
80 padding
81-83    initials number 1
84 padding
85-87   initials number 2
...
156 padding
157-159   initials number 20
-------------------------------------
160   area reached number 1   *** see area value's below
161   area reached number 2
...
179   area reached number 20
--------------------------------------
180-183 hi-score in  game
184 padding

The area's value are in hex from 00h to 40h:
00h = 1-A
01h = 1-B
...
09h = 1-J
0Ah = 2-A
0Bh= 2-B
...
10h = 2-H
11h = 3-A
12h = 3-B
...
22h = 3-Q
23h = 4-A
24h = 4-B
...
2Eh = 4-L
2Fh = 5-A
30h = 5-B
...
3Bh = 5-M
3Ch = 6-A
3Dh = 6-B
3Eh = 6-C
3Fh = 6-D
40h = 6-E  (this is the last level)

The characters ASCII:
41h = A
42h = B
...
5Ah = Z

Special characters :
20h = (space)
00h = (blank) *** when initials-entry time-outs
5Bh = [ (in initials-entry select a ! and this will be written in the initials
5Ch = \ (in initials-entry select a ? and this will be written in the initals
5Dh = ] ( in initials-entry select a & and this will be written in the initials

*** don't know if this is a bug in the driver or that it is a bug in the original board or .......

--------------------
Dna Disturber
-------------------- 

[Wob]

(toki) * no clones because they take a different chunk of code (information hiscore.dat)


0-3   score number 1
4-7   score number 2
...
76-79   score number 20
-------------------------------------
80 padding
81-83    initials number 1
84 padding
85-87   initials number 2
...
156 padding
157-159   initials number 20
-------------------------------------
160   area reached number 1   *** see area value's below
161   area reached number 2
...
179   area reached number 20
--------------------------------------
180-183 hi-score in  game
184 padding

The area's value are in hex from 00h to 40h:
00h = 1-A
01h = 1-B
...
09h = 1-J
0Ah = 2-A
0Bh= 2-B
...
10h = 2-H
11h = 3-A
12h = 3-B
...
22h = 3-Q
23h = 4-A
24h = 4-B
...
2Eh = 4-L
2Fh = 5-A
30h = 5-B
...
3Bh = 5-M
3Ch = 6-A
3Dh = 6-B
3Eh = 6-C
3Fh = 6-D
40h = 6-E  (this is the last level)

The characters ASCII:
41h = A
42h = B
...
5Ah = Z

Special characters :
20h = (space)
00h = (blank) *** when initials-entry time-outs
5Bh = [ (in initials-entry select a ! and this will be written in the initials
5Ch = \ (in initials-entry select a ? and this will be written in the initals
5Dh = ] ( in initials-entry select a & and this will be written in the initials

*** don't know if this is a bug in the driver or that it is a bug in the original board or .......

--------------------
Dna Disturber
-------------------- 

Hi DNA,

Your decoding will work for the clones (tokib, tokiu, tokia, juju, jujub) , the only difference is the location it grabs from, and toki games a duplicate byte at the end (for no apparent reason) this happens on a semi regular basis. Hence your 184 byte is padding, as it's the 3rd byte of your in game hi score.  So for the clones the last byte is 183.

I agree we shouldn't implement unnecessary changes to the hiscore.dat, but I think in cases like this when there is an unnecessary line causing more work in reading\writing, and it means the hi file is different from it's clones for no real reason that the changes should be made.  So I would suggest removing the last line from toki.

;*********pstadium.c (toki (world set 1))
toki:
0:66b5e:b 4:00:03
0:60008:4:00:00

Note: I had to add a space between the b and 4 because this stupid forum and it's BINGO crap.

Cheers,
Wob

[Wob]

Here is Express Raider (exprraid, wexpress, wexpresb, wexpresc)

First off we just need to add a clone (wexpresc) that is missing from the hiscore.dat file.  Just add it to the other wexpress games

modified hiscore.dat entry

wexpress:
wexpresb:
wexpresc:
0:0245:3:15:00
0:0240:50:20:00

The decoding will also work for the clone (exprrada), the only difference being it doesn't have the in game high score (it pulls it from the table), so the first 3 bytes are not there, shift all the other numbers down by three.

This game has 10 high scores in the table.

Notes:
Maximum Score = 999,999
Name Characters = 3

- Bytes 00-02 (15 00 00): Is the in game high score, in this case 150,000

- Bytes 03-04 (20 31): 1st Ranking, Stored in ASCII, in this case " 1"
- Bytes 05-07 (53 4B 4E): 1st Name, in this case "SKN"
- Bytes 08-10 (15 00 00): 1st Score, in this case 150,000

- Bytes 11-12 (20 32): 2nd Ranking, Stored in ASCII, in this case " 2"
- Bytes 13-15 (41 49 4F): 2nd Name, in this case "AIO"
- Bytes 16-18 (08 90 00): 2nd Score, in this case 89,000

...

- Bytes 75-76 (31 30): Last Ranking, Stored in ASCII, in this case "10"
- Bytes 77-79 (4E 52 49): Last Name, in this case "NRI"
- Bytes 80-82 (02 40 00): Last Score, in this case 24,000


All ASCII for the Characters, even the special characters

The characters
20:   (space)
21: !
2D: -
3D: =
3F: ?

41: A
42: B
...
5A: Z

Screenshot


Cheers,
Wob

[Wob]

Here is Cabal (cabal, cabalbl, cabalus2, cabalus, cabala)

This game has 10 high scores in the table.

Notes:
Maximum Score = 99,999,999
Name Characters = 3

- Bytes 00-02 (44 59 46): 1st Name, in this case "DYF"
- Bytes 03-06 (00 09 97 00): 1st Score, in this case 00099700 (All characters are shown)
- Byte  07    (00): Padding
- Byte  08    (09): Round In hex (See below for decoding)
- Byte  09    (00): Padding

- Bytes 10-12 (54 48 4F): 2nd Name, in this case "THO"
- Bytes 13-16 (00 09 48 00): 2nd Score, in this case 00094800
- Byte  17    (00): Padding
- Byte  18    (08): Round In hex (See below for decoding)
- Byte  19    (00): Padding

...

- Bytes 90-92 (4E 49 54): last Name, in this case "NIT"
- Bytes 93-96 (00 02 88 10): last Score, in this case 00028810
- Byte  97    (00): Padding
- Byte  98    (00): Round In hex (See below for decoding)
Note: No final padding byte is grabbed on the last score

Round Decoding
00h = 1-1
01h = 1-2
02h = 1-3
03h = 1-4
04h = 2-1
05h = 2-2
...
12h = 5-3
13h = 5-4
14h = ALL

All ASCII for the Characters, even the special characters

The characters
20:   (space)
21: !
2D: -
2F: /
3F: ?

41: A
42: B
...
5A: Z

Screenshot


Cheers,
Wob

[dna disturber]

(19xx,19xxa,19xxh,19xxjr1,19xxj,19xxb,19xxd)

Although this game also has nvram all that we need can be extracted from the hi file.

Things we can extract:
scores
rank-levels
initials
accuracy stages + overall (only from top-score)
* (Type of plane used with P1 or P2)
* (number of credits used per game)

------------------------------------------------------
00-03   hi-score in game
   *** the last byte also gives the number of extra credits used
                  00 would mean that you just did it with only 1 credit
                  04 means that you used 4 additional credits etc. (5 credits total)
--------------------------------------------------------
04   1st inital number 1
05   padding
06   2nd initial number 1
07    padding
08   3rd initial number 1
09-12   score number 1  *** see also explanation hi-score in game
13   type of plane used number 1 (with P1 or P2) , see below for values
14   rank-level , see below for values
15    padding
...
136   1st initial number 10
137   padding
138   2nd initial number 10
139    padding
140    3rd initial number 10
141-144   score number 10 *** see also explanation hi-score in game
145   type of plane used number 10 (with P1 or P2) , see below for values
146    rank-level , see below for values
-----------------------------------------------------------------
147-148   number 1 accuracy percentage stage 1
149-150   number 1 accuracy percentage stage 2
...
159-160   number 1 accuracy percentage stage 7
***     value 01 00 gives "perfect" in the score-board for the stages
         value 00 00 gives "uncleared" in the score-board for the stages
161-162    number 1 average accuracy percentage over the 7 stages


Type of plane values:
00   plane "lightning" with player 1
01   plane "sinden" with player 1
02   plane "mosquito" with player 1
10   plane "lightning" with player 2
11   plane "sinden" with player 2
12   plane "mosquito" with player 2
*** With every continue you can choose a plane, the value of this byte is always the last
     plane choosen from your game


Rank-level values:
00h = level 1
01h = level 2
...
1Dh = level 30

The characters:
00h = A
01b = B
...
19h = Z
1Ah = a
1Bh = b
...
33h = z
34h = !
35h = #
36h = $
37h = %
38h = &
39h = (
3Ah = )
3Bh = , (comma)
3Ch = . (period)
3Dh = 0 (zero)
3Eh = 1
..
46h = 9
47h = (space)
FFh = (blank) when you let the initial-entry time-out.

--------------------
Dna Disturber
--------------------    

[dna disturber]

(ajax,typhoon)

00-02   initials number 1
03    padding ?
04-07   score number 1
08-10   initials number 2
11   padding ?
12-15   score number 2
...
72-74   initials number 10
75   padding ?
76-79   score number 10
80-83 hi-score in game


The characters:
11h = A
12h = B
...
2Ah = Z

Dna Disturber 

[wwwombat]

Can someone check Track and Field for me?

I have the latest HiToText and hiscore.dat from the first post in this forum... if I move hitotext to the mame hi file then I can read the format and records for galaga.hi

If I move it to the nvram directory however and try to do the "examples" (as displayed by HiToText when you run it without parameters) on trackfld.nv then I get exceptions errors (dammit, I forget what... I left the paper on which I scribbled them at home)

I then removed the trackfld.nv in case it was "corrupted" and started MAME, played the game again and set a record but I still get the same error under HiToText.

[Cananas]

Do not change the path, even if you want to read a nvram file. Point always to the "hi" folder:

hitotext -r c:\mame\hi\trackfld -> (The extension .nv or .hi is not needed)

[Fyrecrypts]

Do not change the path, even if you want to read and nvram file. Point always to the "hi" folder:

hitotext -r c:\mame\hi\trackfld -> (The extension .nv or .hi is not needed)

Cananas is exactly correct, I thought I'd include why this is the case. Games such as centipede require both the .hi and .nv file. Instead of requiring two separate paths the path to both can be inferred from the hi directory (or the nvram directory now that I think about it). This is done so that the FEs wouldn't have to change anything to get these more complicated games to show up correctly.

In the next version, I will allow "hitotext -r c:\mame\nvram\trackfld" to work just as well as the above.

[FrizzleFried]

Not sure if this is related or not,  but I recently lost all my T&F high scores...and the only thing I've done was update the highscore.dat file...I am not sure if it's saving new ones as I only played half a game once I realized all my record times were gone...

EDIT: Well,  I also updated MAME a time or two since I last played so that could be it too...

[Fyrecrypts]

Not sure if this is related or not,  but I recently lost all my T&F high scores...and the only thing I've done was update the highscore.dat file...I am not sure if it's saving new ones as I only played half a game once I realized all my record times were gone...

EDIT: Well,  I also updated MAME a time or two since I last played so that could be it too...

Track and Field is nvram only, so the hiscore.dat file has no effect on the scores. Man I hope the nv file format hasn't changed. Track and field was a pain.

[Fyrecrypts]

New version out, bug fixes, programming changes, AND new games! I'm still behind so not every game deciphered on this forum is in, but I got some.

Bug fixes:
Yie Ar Kung Fu and Mat Mania were incorrectly reading the stage/round. This has been fixed, thanks Wob for the find.
Crazy Kong now reads/writes 12 characters instead of 3 for the name. Thank you dna disturber!
Bank Panic is now not broken. WOO! Thanks Wob!

New functionality:
As mentioned in an earlier post, you can now specify the nvram directory and not the hi directory and it will work just fine. In addition, if you are using HiToText from either your hi directory or nvram directory you do not need to use the whole path name.

New games added: Popeye, Silkworm, Esp Ra De, Gyruss, Time Pilot, Jungler, Burnin' Rubber, and Shadow Warrior (which was crazy hard BTW).

Sorry it's so late!

[Wob]

Keep up the good work Fyrecrypts, and I am sure I speak for everyone that you don't need to apologies for the speed of your updates.

I am glad I am not the only one that found Shadow Warrior complicated

[dna disturber]

Keep up the good work Fyrecrypts, and I am sure I speak for everyone that you don't need to apologies for the speed of your updates.

Same here   

Not trying to make you  or  here but.................here's another one:

(chasehq,chasehqj,chasehqu)

*** chasehqj and chasehqu should be added to chasehq (as clones) in hiscore.dat to ensure that these games
       can save the hiscores.
 
Things to extract :
*** Top 10 ***
score
initials
stage
credit(s) used (called play in game scoreboard)
*rank in ASCII except for "1st" , (not necessary because the ranks can be based on position of the bytes)


The bytes:

00-03      score number 1
04         stage (in decimal, 01 = stage 1)
05         play (continues) (in decimal, 11 = play 11)
06-08      initials number 1
09          padding
10-14       Rank written in ascii begins with " 2ND "  (there is no no 1st ?) , *** 1 space in front and

back
15          padding
16-19      score number 2
20         stage
21         play (continues)
22-24      initials number 2
25          padding
...
...
128-131      score number 9
132         stage (in decimal, 01 = stage 1)
133         play (continues) (in decimal, 11 = play 11)
134-136      initials number 9
137         padding
138-142      Rank written in ascii "10TH " , *** 1  space at the back
143          padding
144-147      score number 10
148         stage (in decimal, 01 = stage 1)
149         play (continues) (in decimal, 11 = play 11)
150-152      initials number 10


Alphabet ASCII:
41h = A
42h = B
...
5Ah = Z

Special characters:
26h = &
27h = ' (single quote)
28h = (
29h = )
2Ah = × (multiply)
2Bh = +
2Ch = , (comma)
2Dh = - (minus)
2Eh = . (period)
2Fh = ÷ (divide)
30h = 0
31h = 1
...
39h = 9
3Ah = :
3Bh = ;
3Ch = <
3Dh = =
3Eh = >
3Fh = ?
40h = © (copyright)
5Bh = [
5Ch = \
5Dh = ]
5Fh = " (double quote)

Dna Disturber 

[dna disturber]

(hyperspt,hpolym84)
Uses nvram only

Things to  extract:
Top 3 worldrecord of each event (7 events in total)
Top3 worldrecord initials of each event (7 events in total)
*4th place worldrecord of each event (7 events in total) * not displayed in the game
*4th place worldrecord initials of each event (7 events in total) * not displayed in the game
Top 3 scores total-score
Top 3 initials total-score
Top 20 scores total-score "todays best" (Top 3 is not included in this list)
Top 20 initials total-score "todays best" (Top 3 is not included in this list)

The top 3 is shown in attractmode, the 1-10 scores of the top 20 are also shown in attractmode as the
"todays best 10". Numbers 11-20 are only visible when you can set your initials in that range.
 

The Bytes:

00-04   Triple jump - worldrecord 1st ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 01 06 07 09 = 16m79
05-07    Initials Triple jump - worldrecord 1st
08-12   Triple jump - worldrecord 2nd ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 01 06 07 09 = 16m79
13-15   Initials Triple jump - worldrecord 2nd
16-20   Triple jump - worldrecord 3rd ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 01 06 07 09 = 16m79
21-23   Initials Triple jump - worldrecord 3rd
24-28    * Triple jump worldrecord 4th ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 01 06 07 09 = 16m79
29-31   * Initials Triple jump - worldrecord 4th
* These are not shown in game (if  a new record is set (1st,2nd or 3rd) the 3rd becomes the 4th, if no new record
is set then bytes 24-31 contain all 00 )

32-36   Skeet shooting - worldrecord 1st ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 08 02 00 00 = 8200
37-39   Initials Skeet shooting - worldrecord 1st
40-44   Skeet shooting - worldrecord 2nd ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 08 02 00 00 = 8200
45-47   Initials Skeet shooting - worldrecord 2nd
48-52   Skeet shooting - worldrecord 3rd ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 08 02 00 00 = 8200
53-55   Initials Skeet shooting - worldrecord 3rd
56-60   * Skeet shooting - worldrecord 4th ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 08 02 00 00 = 8200
61-63   * Initials Skeet shooting - worldrecord 4th
* These are not shown in game (if  a new record is set (1st,2nd or 3rd) the 3rd becomes the 4th, if no new record
is set then bytes 56-63 contain all 00 )

64-68   Pole vault - worldrecord 1st ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 00 05 08 05 = 5m85
69-71   Initials Pole vault - worldrecord 1st
72-76   Pole vault - worldrecord 2nd ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 00 05 08 05 = 5m85
77-79   Initials Pole vault - worldrecord 2nd
80-84   Pole vault - worldrecord 3rd ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 00 05 08 05 = 5m85
85-87   Initials Pole vault - worldrecord 3rd
88-92   * Pole vault - worldrecord 4th ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 00 05 08 05 = 5m85
93-95   * Initials Pole vault - worldrecord 4th
* These are not shown in game (if  a new record is set (1st,2nd or 3rd) the 3rd becomes the 4th, if no new record
is set then bytes 88-95 contain all 00 )

96-100   Free Style - worldrecord 1st ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 05 04 00 01 = 54 ' ' 01
101-103   Initials Free Style - worldrecord 1st
104-108   Free Style - worldrecord 2nd ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 05 04 00 01 = 54 ' ' 01
109-111   Initials Free Style - worldrecord 2nd
112-116   Free Style - worldrecord 3rd ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 05 04 00 01 = 54 ' ' 01
117-119   Initials Free Style - worldrecord 3rd
120-124   * Free Style - worldrecord 4th ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 05 04 00 01 = 54 ' ' 01
125-127   * Initials Free Style - worldrecord 4th
* These are not shown in game (if  a new record is set (1st,2nd or 3rd) the 3rd becomes the 4th, if no new record
is set then bytes 120-127 contain all 00 )

128-132   Weight lifting - worldrecord 1st ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 03 06 00 00 = 360kg0
133-135   Initials Weight lifting - worldrecord 1st
136-140   Weight lifting - worldrecord 2nd ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 03 06 00 00 = 360kg0
141-143   Initials Weight lifting - worldrecord 2nd
144-148   Weight lifting - worldrecord 3rd ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 03 06 00 00 = 360kg0
149-151   Initials Weight lifting - worldrecord 3rd
152-156   * Weight lifting - worldrecord 4th ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 03 06 00 00 = 360kg0
157-159   * Initials Weight lifting - worldrecord 4th
* These are not shown in game (if  a new record is set (1st,2nd or 3rd) the 3rd becomes the 4th, if no new record
is set then bytes 152-159 contain all 00 )

160-164   Archery - worldrecord 1st ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 03 03 06 00 = 3360
165-167   Initials Archery - worldrecord 1st
168-172   Archery - worldrecord 2nd ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 03 03 06 00 = 3360
173-175   Initials Archery - worldrecord 2nd
176-178   Archery - worldrecord 3rd ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 03 03 06 00 = 3360
179-183   Initials Archery - worldrecord 3rd
184-188   * Archery - worldrecord 4th ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 03 03 06 00 = 3360
189-191   * Initials Archery - worldrecord 4th
* These are not shown in game (if  a new record is set (1st,2nd or 3rd) the 3rd becomes the 4th, if no new record
is set then bytes 184-191 contain all 00 )

192-196   Long Horse - worldrecord 1st ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 00 09 05 00 = 9.50
197-199   Initials Long Horse - worldrecord 1st
200-204   Long Horse - worldrecord 2nd ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 00 09 05 00 = 9.50
205-207   Initials Long Horse - worldrecord 2nd
208-212   Long Horse - worldrecord 3rd ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 00 09 05 00 = 9.50
213-215   Initials Long Horse - worldrecord 3rd
216-220   * Long Horse - worldrecord 4th ***every byte  is 1 digit for example 00 00 09 05 00 = 9.50
221-223   * Initials Long Horse - worldrecord 4th
* These are not shown in game (if  a new record is set (1st,2nd or 3rd) the 3rd becomes the 4th, if no new record
is set then bytes 216-223 contain all 00 )

224-229    padding ?

230-232   total-score number 1 (add a 0 at the back for the real total-score)
233-235   initials number 1
236-238   total-score number 2 (add a 0 at the back for the real total-score)
239-241   initials number 2
242-244   total-score number 3 (add a 0 at the back for the real total-score)
245-247   initials number 3

248-250   total-score "todays best" number 1 (add a 0 at the back for the real total-score)
251-253   initials total-score "todays best" number 1
...
...
362-364    total-score "todays best" number 20 (add a 0 at the back for the real total-score)
365-367    initials total-score "todays best" number 20

The characters :
10h = (space)
11h = A
12h = B
...
2Ah = Z
2Bh = . (period)


There are more scores stored (21-200) but they are reset when you start up the game.
So you can only see them in the one session when you play (unless you have savestate on but we don't want that with a hi patched mame)
So we can't use these scores for this project (and furthermore would you like to see a top 200 ?)

*** My 2 cents on the values from the worldrecords:
   Use 54sec01 instead of the 54 ' ' 01 on Free Style for the display of the records
   Use 360kg instead of the 360kg0 on Weigth lifting for the display of records (it always ends above 1kg)
   The worldrecords are also shown this way in attractmode.

Dna Disturber   

[Fyrecrypts]

Code: [Select]

;*******steelwkr
steelwkr:
0:200a:06:00:00
HiToText support coming soon. =)

Enjoy all!

[wwwombat]

Track and Field is nvram only, so the hiscore.dat file has no effect on the scores. Man I hope the nv file format hasn't changed. Track and field was a pain.

Okay please be aware that I am on a compiled version of Mame 0132 using the appropriate diff file so that I have the high score support enabled.

I have the very latest (downloaded today) version of HiToText.exe plus the hiscore.dat from the first post in this thread.

So that I know it's working, I can read the format and the hiscores for both dkong and galaga quite happily using the strings HiToText -f c:\mame\hi\dkong and HiToText -r c:\mame\hi\dkong etc.

I can read the format for Track & Field i.e.

HiToText -f c:\mame\hi\trackfld gives

RANK|SCORE|NAME

I can read the alternate format for Track & Field i.e.

HiToText -fa c:\mame\hi\trackfld gives

100M WORLD RECORD|RANK|TIME|NAME
LONG JUMP WORLD RECORD|RANK|DISTANCE|NAME
JAVELIN WORLD RECORD|RANK|DISTANCE|NAME
100M HURDLES WORLD RECORD|RANK|TIME|NAME
HAMMER TOSS WORLD RECORD|RANK|DISTANCE|NAME
HIGH JUMP WORLD RECORD|RANK|HEIGHT|NAME

However when I try a read of the record i.e.

HiToText -r c:\mame\hi\trackfld

I get

Error: System.FormatException: Input string was not in correct format. at System.Number.StringToNumber(String str, NumberStyles options, NumberBuffer& number, NumberFormatInfo info, Boolean parseDecimal) at System.Number.ParseInt32(String s, NumberStyles style, NumberFormatInfo ino) at HiToText.HiConvert.ByteArrayHexToInt(Byte[] byteArray) at HiGames.trackfld.HiToString() at HiToText.Program.Main(String[] args)

I'm told the hiscore.dat doesn't come into play in this case (as it's nvram only) and I've lost count of the number of times I've exited mame, deleted the trackfld.nv ram and set new records only to achieve the same error including using the DIP switch settings inside the game to erase the world records.

Whatever records I do set inside Track & Field always display and are kept inside the game fine between mame invocations.... I just can't get HiToText to read/display them.

So.... taking a hint from Firecrypts post, has mame132 changed this nvram? Anyone on that level of mame that can try this for me.... anyone else got anything else I can try?

[Wob]

OK, so had a mate visiting from out of town, we gave the arcade machine a lashing and rediscovered some old games.  Here is the first.

Exerion (exerion, exerionb, exeriont)

First off we just need to add the clones to the hiscore.dat file as it only has the original listed.  Tested working with both clones.

modified hiscore.dat entry

;********exerion.c
exerion:
exerionb:
exeriont:
0:6600:c8:00:00
0:6700:28:00:00

Now the decoding.

This game has 100 high scores, but it only records names for the top 5.

Notes:
Maximum Score = 999,900
Name Characters = 3 (Even though there are spaces for 8 char in memory, you are only able to enter 3 char in game, if you modify the memory it will show all 8, but this leads to some corruption on the screen proceeding the high score table)

Also of note, no mater how bad your score it will always put you into 100th place, even if the previous 100th score is higher that yours.

- Bytes 000-001 (02 13): 1st Score, In this case 21,300 (Trailing 00's are added to all scores in game)
- Bytes 002-003 (01 59): 2nd Score, In this case 15,900
...
- Bytes 198-199 (00 09): 100th Score, In this case 900

- Bytes 200-207 (40 5F 5B 00 00 00 00 00): 1st Name, In this case " :."
- Bytes 208-215 (41 42 5A 00 00 00 00 00): 2nd Name, In this case "ABZ"
...
- Bytes 232-239 (41 41 41 00 00 00 00 00): 5th Name, In this case "AAA"


ASCII for the Characters, except the special characters

The characters

00:   (Space) This is used when END is used before all 3 spaces are filled
40:   (Space)

41: A
42: B
...
5A: Z

5F: : (colon)
5B: . (period)

Screenshot


Cheers,
Wob

[Fyrecrypts]

Track and Field is nvram only, so the hiscore.dat file has no effect on the scores. Man I hope the nv file format hasn't changed. Track and field was a pain.

Okay please be aware that I am on a compiled version of Mame 0132 using the appropriate diff file so that I have the high score support enabled.

I have the very latest (downloaded today) version of HiToText.exe plus the hiscore.dat from the first post in this thread.

So that I know it's working, I can read the format and the hiscores for both dkong and galaga quite happily using the strings HiToText -f c:\mame\hi\dkong and HiToText -r c:\mame\hi\dkong etc.

I can read the format for Track & Field i.e.

HiToText -f c:\mame\hi\trackfld gives

RANK|SCORE|NAME

I can read the alternate format for Track & Field i.e.

HiToText -fa c:\mame\hi\trackfld gives

100M WORLD RECORD|RANK|TIME|NAME
LONG JUMP WORLD RECORD|RANK|DISTANCE|NAME
JAVELIN WORLD RECORD|RANK|DISTANCE|NAME
100M HURDLES WORLD RECORD|RANK|TIME|NAME
HAMMER TOSS WORLD RECORD|RANK|DISTANCE|NAME
HIGH JUMP WORLD RECORD|RANK|HEIGHT|NAME

However when I try a read of the record i.e.

HiToText -r c:\mame\hi\trackfld

I get

Error: System.FormatException: Input string was not in correct format. at System.Number.StringToNumber(String str, NumberStyles options, NumberBuffer& number, NumberFormatInfo info, Boolean parseDecimal) at System.Number.ParseInt32(String s, NumberStyles style, NumberFormatInfo ino) at HiToText.HiConvert.ByteArrayHexToInt(Byte[] byteArray) at HiGames.trackfld.HiToString() at HiToText.Program.Main(String[] args)

I'm told the hiscore.dat doesn't come into play in this case (as it's nvram only) and I've lost count of the number of times I've exited mame, deleted the trackfld.nv ram and set new records only to achieve the same error including using the DIP switch settings inside the game to erase the world records.

Whatever records I do set inside Track & Field always display and are kept inside the game fine between mame invocations.... I just can't get HiToText to read/display them.

So.... taking a hint from Firecrypts post, has mame132 changed this nvram? Anyone on that level of mame that can try this for me.... anyone else got anything else I can try?

I'd say it sounds like the nvram file has changed. I better take a look at it. Thanks for the heads up, I'll try to get a fix in shortly.

[dna disturber]

Fyrecrypts,

I don't know exactly when you deciphered it......
The last change (also affected nvram) is:

0.130u3: Track & Field cleanups [Aaron Giles]: Derived clocks where possible. Complete memory maps from the schematics. Hooked up proper sound command latching. Reimplemented 6802-based ADPCM samples for the bootlegs. Merged memory maps. Extended NVRAM to the full RAM range (according to schematics). Created common include file and modified drivers to use it instead of explicit externs. Changed M6809 CPU1 clock speed to 1536000 Hz and VLM5030 to 3579545 Hz.

And 130u3 was in april 2009.
If you deciphered it before april 2009 then it could be the wrong data that's been extracted.

Dna Disturber

[Fyrecrypts]

Fyrecrypts,

I don't know exactly when you deciphered it......
The last change (also affected nvram) is:

0.130u3: Track & Field cleanups [Aaron Giles]: Derived clocks where possible. Complete memory maps from the schematics. Hooked up proper sound command latching. Reimplemented 6802-based ADPCM samples for the bootlegs. Merged memory maps. Extended NVRAM to the full RAM range (according to schematics). Created common include file and modified drivers to use it instead of explicit externs. Changed M6809 CPU1 clock speed to 1536000 Hz and VLM5030 to 3579545 Hz.

And 130u3 was in april 2009.
If you deciphered it before april 2009 then it could be the wrong data that's been extracted.

Dna Disturber

I deciphered it in February. I think I need to modify HiToText to check the MAME version and determine which format to decipher from. This'll be an interesting change.

[dna disturber]

As I am using mame 0.130 hi-patched with hyperspin I decided to take a look at it

Funny thing, I can read all of the records with hitotext -ra  but they don´t display in hyperspin !
So probably the change in 130u3 did alter the nvram adresses

Wouldn´t that be cool to have a mame version-independent hitotext.
Would be nice to have that for the hiscore.dat as well.
Mostly because of the name-changing but also for something like a driver rewrite perhaps. But maybe that last one doesn´t happen very often (changes to the adresses because of a driver rewrite)

for instance
dkong:
standard: 0:6700:c8:00:00
-120: 0:6600:c8:00:00 for everything under 0.120

and mameversion rename in it to get the right locations
mame0.120
dkongjr = dkongjunior

Well I´ll just keep on dreaming

Dna Disturber

[Fyrecrypts]

As I am using mame 0.130 hi-patched with hyperspin I decided to take a look at it

Funny thing, I can read all of the records with hitotext -ra  but they don´t display in hyperspin !
So probably the change in 130u3 did alter the nvram adresses

Wouldn´t that be cool to have a mame version-independent hitotext.
Would be nice to have that for the hiscore.dat as well.
Mostly because of the name-changing but also for something like a driver rewrite perhaps. But maybe that last one doesn´t happen very often (changes to the adresses because of a driver rewrite)

for instance
dkong:
standard: 0:6700:c8:00:00
-120: 0:6600:c8:00:00 for everything under 0.120

and mameversion rename in it to get the right locations
mame0.120
dkongjr = dkongjunior

Well I´ll just keep on dreaming

Dna Disturber

Hyperspin only sends the -r command to HiToText, it doesn't currently read all scores. I don't think any front end supports alternate scores yet actually. This is part of the reason why there are two separate commands actually, I didn't want the FE devs to have to rewrite anything, so -r acts just as it always has.

As for the hiscore.dat issue, I think that you could just continue to add clones to the code, so the game supported for dkongjr would look like this: m_gamesSupported = "dkongjr,dkngjnrb,dkngjnrj,dkongjre,dkongjunior";

Both the old name clone, and new name clone would both be supported, if the .hi file actually changed from one version to the next something like what I'm doing for Track and Field could be done as well. Different versions for different formats. This will be a cool change.

[dna disturber]

Hyperspin only sends the -r command to HiToText, it doesn't currently read all scores. I don't think any front end supports alternate scores yet actually. This is part of the reason why there are two separate commands actually, I didn't want the FE devs to have to rewrite anything, so -r acts just as it always has.

Within Hyperspin I get no score from track and field , not even the normal scores (-r)
Should that be working with the above explanation in mind ?

TIA,

Dna Disturber

[FrizzleFried]

Any of you pro's had a chance to look at PuzzLoop or PuzzLoop 2?   Two excellent games that I just don' t play much because the highscores don't save...  

[Fyrecrypts]

Within Hyperspin I get no score from track and field , not even the normal scores (-r)
Should that be working with the above explanation in mind ?

TIA,

Dna Disturber

It's probably because it's erroring, and I think Hyperspin doesn't display anything on errors.

Any of you pro's had a chance to look at PuzzLoop or PuzzLoop 2?   Two excellent games that I just don' t play much because the highscores don't save...  

I have taken a look, and have not yet found the score table, I haven't stopped trying though.

[Fyrecrypts]

Message removed, no longer necessary.

[FrizzleFried]

I have taken a look, and have not yet found the score table, I haven't stopped trying though.

OK...I'll shut up now.  I figured my request was lost amongst the responses above...

Thank you BTW.

[Fyrecrypts]

I have taken a look, and have not yet found the score table, I haven't stopped trying though.

OK...I'll shut up now.  I figured my request was lost amongst the responses above...

Thank you BTW.

Hahaha, I'm not a mamedev, you don't have to tiptoe around me. =D

I actually thought about posting a reply, but since I hadn't found it yet, I figured it wasn't worth a post. And no worries, I'm happy people are interested in the project and really, providing games that aren't in the hiscore.dat that someone actually plays is helping to enhance it. By posting requests, you're actually contributing. Otherwise I'm just left to choosing games I enjoy, and miss some gems that other's know about.

[FrizzleFried]

I have taken a look, and have not yet found the score table, I haven't stopped trying though.

OK...I'll shut up now.  I figured my request was lost amongst the responses above...

Thank you BTW.

Hahaha, I'm not a mamedev, you don't have to tiptoe around me. =D

I actually thought about posting a reply, but since I hadn't found it yet, I figured it wasn't worth a post. And no worries, I'm happy people are interested in the project and really, providing games that aren't in the hiscore.dat that someone actually plays is helping to enhance it. By posting requests, you're actually contributing. Otherwise I'm just left to choosing games I enjoy, and miss some gems that other's know about.

You don't have any idea the floodgate you just opened... do ya? 

I'm happy to "contribute" whenever I can. 

[Cananas]

Any of you pro's had a chance to look at PuzzLoop or PuzzLoop 2?   Two excellent games that I just don' t play much because the highscores don't save...  

Sorry, but puzzloop and puzzloop2 are included in the hiscore.dat, and they saves correctly. You only must follow the instructions for puzzloop2. In this game, the hiscore table is generated the first time is going to be showed. Then, the hiscore data is changed with the data of the pzloop2.hi.

No special instructions for puzzloop.

[FrizzleFried]

Strange... my HS works but PL and PL2 don't.  I guess I will go in and delete the .HS files (if they are there). 

Now what I don't understand is your instructions for PL2...

"The highscore table is generated the first time is going to be showed.  Then, the highscore data is changed with the data of the pzloop2.hi" 

I'm not quite picking those sentences up.  Can you please reiterate?


EDIT: After deleting the .hi file,  PuzzLoop is working.   When i have a chance I'll have to go searching through the highscore.dat file to find the instructions I assume are there for PuzzLoop 2.   I do apologize for the wild goose chase and I will make sure to CHECK the freakin' .DAT file instead of relying on whether a game is saving HS or not as proof positive it's included or not.

My bad 100%.



EDIT #2: I just checked the latest hiscore.dat (i believe it is) and this is what I found RE: Puzz Loop 2:

** stage scores not right ** ** you must wait untill the hiscore table has displayed **
;** at least once before you start a game for this save to work  ****

I will have to try this... now I wonder if they mean at boot up,  or after a high score is achieved,  the next game is not to start until the HS table is displayed?

[Cananas]

I will have to try this... now I wonder if they mean at boot up,  or after a high score is achieved,  the next game is not to start until the HS table is displayed?

Yes, only at boot up. Each time you load the roms (of this game) from mame, the hiscore table is 'loaded' into memory only when it is going to be displayed for the first time. After loaded, the data is overwritten with the data of the hi file.

After that, you can play normally.

[Wob]

Rolling Thunder (rthunder, rthundro)

This game has 5 high scores

Notes:
Maximum Score = 9,999,990 = (99 99 99) Trailing 0 is added in game
Maximum Area = 99 = (99) Stored in Decimal
Name Characters = 3

- Bytes 00-02 (00 30 00): 1st Score, In this case 30,000
- Byte  03    (05): 1st Area, In this case 5
- Bytes 04-06 (0A 15 0B): 1st Initials, in this case "ALB"

- Bytes 07-09 (00 20 00): 2nd Score, In this case 20,000
- Byte  10    (05): 2nd Area, In this case 4
- Bytes 11-13 (15 12 1B): 2nd Initials, in this case "LIR"

...

- Bytes 28-30 (00 04 00): 5th Score, In this case 4,000
- Byte  31    (01): 5th Area, In this case 1
- Bytes 32-34 (16 19 12): 5th Initials, in this case "MPI"

- Bytes 35-37 (00 30 00): The in game high score, in this case 30,000


Non ASCII for the Characters

The characters

0A: A
0B: B
...
23: Z

24: ?
25: !
26: .
27: ,
28: :
29: ;

Screenshot


Cheers,
Wob

[Wob]

Terra Cresta (terracre, terracrb, terracra)

This game has 5 high scores

Notes:
Maximum Score = 99,999,999 = (99 99 99 99)
Name Characters = 10

- Bytes 00-03 (00 02 50 00): 1st Score, In this case 25,000
- Bytes 04-13 (33 0E 26 35 2A 29 37 21 32 21): 1st Name, in this case "S.FUJIWARA"

- Bytes 14-17 (00 02 00 00): 2nd Score, In this case 20,000
- Bytes 18-27 (29 0E 33 28 29 2B 29 00 00 00): 2nd Name, in this case "I.SHIKI"

...

- Bytes 56-59 (00 00 50 00): 5th Score, In this case 5,000
- Bytes 60-69 (32 0E 39 21 2D 21 24 21 00 00): 5th Name, in this case "R.VAMADA"

- Bytes 70-73 (00 02 50 00): The in game high score, in this case 25,000

- Byte  74    (50): This is a mirror of Byte 02, The reason it is grabbed in the hiscore.dat is because both the two other lines start and end with 00, so it needs this byte to know when the table has been filled and when to dump the data from the hi file into the game memory.

Non ASCII for the Characters, Lots of Special Characters in this one.

The characters
00:   (Space)
01: !
04: ; (Strange Character, sort of like a ; on it's side or .,) See the screenshot
06: &
0A: *
0C: ,
0E: .
1D: -
1F: ?
20: © (Copyright Logo)

21: A
22: B
...
3A: Z

Screenshot showing special characters


Cheers,
Wob

[Fyrecrypts]

Any of you pro's had a chance to look at PuzzLoop or PuzzLoop 2?   Two excellent games that I just don' t play much because the highscores don't save...  

Sorry, but puzzloop and puzzloop2 are included in the hiscore.dat, and they saves correctly. You only must follow the instructions for puzzloop2. In this game, the hiscore table is generated the first time is going to be showed. Then, the hiscore data is changed with the data of the pzloop2.hi.

No special instructions for puzzloop.

Wow, I really should've checked the hiscore.dat file as well. I only ran the game and looked if a .hi file was generated.

[dna disturber]

(outrun, outrun2, outrunb)

Things to extract:
*** Top 20 ***
score
initials
route
record

The bytes:

00-03   Score number 1
04-06   Initials number 1
07   padding
08-09   record number 1
10-13   route number 1
14-17   Score number 2
18-20   Initials number 2
21   padding
22-23   record number 2
24-26   route number 2
...
...
266-269  Score number 20
270-272    Initials number 20
273   padding
274-275   record number 20
276-279   route number 20

Route values : (is actually a graphical presentation , see screenshot)

                                1
                             1 
                         1      2
                      1     2
Schematic : 1     2      3
                      2     3
                         3      4
                             4
                                 5

E5 C8 C1 D1 = 1

E5 C8 C2 D1 = 11
E5 C8 C3 D1 = 12

E5 C8 C4 D2 = 111
E5 C8 C5 D3 = 112
E5 C8 C6 D3 = 122
E5 C8 C7 D4 = 123

E5 C9 C4 D2 = 1111
E5 C8 C4 D5 = 1112
E5 C8 C5 D6 = 1122
E5 C8 C5 D7 = 1123
E5 C8 C6 D6 = 1222
E5 C8 C6 D7 = 1223
E5 C8 C7 D8 = 1233
E5 C8 C7 D9 = 1234

E5 D0 C4 D2 = 11111
E5 C9 C4 DA = 11112
E5 C8 C4 DB = 11122
E5 C8 C4 DC = 11123
E5 C8 C5 DD = 11222
E5 C8 C5 DE = 11223
E5 C8 C5 DF = 11233
E5 C8 C5 E0 = 11234
E5 C8 C6 DD = 12222
E5 C8 C6 DE = 12223
E5 C8 C6 DF = 12233
E5 C8 C6 E0 = 12234
E5 C8 C7 E1 = 12333
E5 C8 C7 E2 = 12334
E5 C8 C7 E3 = 12344
E5 C8 C7 E4 = 12345

Default the bytes are 20 20 20 20 (from the initial score-board)


Record:
10 00 = 1min 7 sec 75/100
01 00 = 4 sec
00 10 = 25/100 sec
00 01 = X  hundreds of a second

digit nr 1 multiply by 1min 7 sec .75 sec
digit nr 2 multiply by 4 sec.
digit nr 3 multiply by .25 sec ( 25/100 of a second)
digit nr 4 values : (hunderds of a second)

0h = 0
1h = 1
2h = 3
3h = 4
4h = 6
5h = 7
6h = 9
7h = 10
8h = 12
9h = 14
Ah = 15
Bh = 17
Ch = 18
Dh = 20
Eh = 21
Fh = 23

So total time = digit nr 1 * 1min7sec .75 sec + digit nr 2 * 4 sec. + digit nr 3 * 0.25 sec + digit 4 (in .xx sec) =
If you didn't finish the game the value of the bytes = 00 00 (and nothing will be displayed)

Hopes this all makes sense !

The characters (ASCII):
41h = A
42h = B
...
5Ah = Z

special characters:
20h = (space)  , when you let the initials entry time-out.
5Bh = . (period)

Dna Disturber 

[FrizzleFried]

Regarding Puzz Loop 2... even using the method described in the .HI,  the saves are messed up. 

I followed the instructions and allowed the high score table to run through before playing... i got a high score of over 2 million.  I entered my initials,  let the attract mode start and then exited.  I noted there was a .HI file created.  I checked and while my intials JON are in place 1,  the stock high score of 140,000 shows.   I play a 2nd game... after the game it shows player 1 JON with my new high score... and player 2 JON with 140,000... i exit and return to fine both 1 and 2 JON at 140,000.   

[Dazz]

I was just thinking about how cool it could be to have a program that could pull information from HitoText and post them to a database for online HighScore keeping.  I know that it would be nearly impossible to police as far as cheaters go, but it could be pretty cool especially for those of us with our own online communities.

I'd love to have something like this setup for the HyperSpin community... Have it setup to where people could play and HitoText could upload the score file to a specified place on our webserver and then be parsed into something that will be displayed on the site. 

Probably just a pipe dream, but it would be pretty cool...