Pac-man CE DX+ Rotation proof of concept

[Howard_Casto]

So going back to this when I had a spare minute or two over the course of today, I found darn near every variable involved in the gameplay of the game. 

I found:

Rumble
When the ghosts turn edible
score
hi score
time left
game speed
ghost combo (number of ghosts eaten in a row)
total ghosts eaten
total fruits eaten
bombs left
lives left
playfield color (I haven't quite figured out the format, but it does indicate a color value)
and probably a couple other ones I forgot. 

About the only thing I didn't find relating to gameplay was the score multiplier and ghost score multiplier, but those shouldn't be too hard to figure out. 

I've got to hook all these up for use in mamehooker.  I've got an idea for my pac-man cab. 

[Howard_Casto]

So I guess it can't all be good news. 

I plugged in some of the addresses to strings that point to the "data" folder.... they are write protected.... so it would be difficult (not impossible but still) to alter these strings. 

There are various other methods I can use to swap out strings.  The easiest is just to have multiple data folders and rename them on the fly, essentially swapping out textures as the game is running.  I've had success with this on MK9.  I could also find the assembly code in the game that loads those strings and alter that to point to another memory location.... one I CAN write to.  Eh but I suck at assembly though and thus far I haven't had much luck finding those pointers. 

So yeah, I'll probably be renaming folders... it's sloppy, but it gets the job done.   I'll set it up so that "data" is the default folder and then "dat1" - datwhatever are the extra skins. 

Also of note is the fact that this particular game doesn't really have a fullscreen mode, so I could potentially draw over the screen quite easily.... with potential for slowdowns of course.  So since I've had such luck finding all the variables, one approach might be to just use blank textures for some of the stuff and draw my own score/lives/ect. 

I don't want this project to go too crazy though... I've got enough of those.

[Howard_Casto]

The last day or so I've been working on rotating some of the more difficult skins.  The two with the "smooth" sprites are hard to do because it's hard to re-align the sprites after rotation.  Eh, but I'm doing a little at a time so it's progressing, just slowly.  I went back on the skins I had already rotated and swapped the ghost sprites so they are looking the right way.  It's actually easier than I thought.... there are two rows for each ghost direction, representing the two frames of animation....  take the first two rows and move them to the bottom two rows and then for each two rows move them up two.... easy. 

Like I mentioned before, the sprite altering is the bulk of this project.  I'll get back to the wrapper (which already works btw) once I'm done. 

[Howard_Casto]

So I'm on the last of the 2d skins, then it's the 3d ones.  Maybe I'll be done by the 40th anniversary. 

[Howard_Casto]

Ok time for an update.  So I haven't worked on this, or any of my software projects really, since summer time.  I've just been busy and dealing with health and personal issues ect....  Also I'm overhauling 3 mame cabs while building a racing rig all at the same time and just when I was getting things how I liked it, I got a better pc, so all the older cabs get upgraded. 

Anyway, ect... ect.... 

I tested the video card and pc I'll be putting in my pac-man reproduction cab with pac-man ce dx+ and it runs flawlessly... this game must have rather low requirements.  That has renewed my interest in the project. 

Also I've been learning a lot about hardware hacking and fabrication and since I already found many of the values to use in mamehooker and the pac-man cab doesn't have any artwork yet... I might try something.... special. 

So atm I'm snowed in and can't get to my tools, but expect me to work on this project again very soon. 

[Howard_Casto]

So I was actually further along with this than I remember.  The wrapper already rotates the screen appropriately for a vertical monitor, so aside from a little beautification and the remaining skins that need altered I think it's already there.  I'll report more when I start working on everything again.