Hey guys.
Tilt asked us some questions about the savekit yesterday. I will post Jochens mail to him here. Maybe this answers some of your questions, too.
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Hi Tanner,
i hope i can answer all your questions.
The Savekit itself was done by me about 6 months ago and i must say that i am not sure about "all" the changes right now without checking the source-code.
but this one i am sure of: the highscoresavekit changes a lot in the code, but nothing in the game logic itself.
the game itself is interrupt-based, that means if a certain non-game-related-code is "inserted", it should only delay the rest of the code for some clockcycles. this will not delay the next interrupt (if this code is short enough - which it is in our case)
inside the main code there are the following changes:
* freeplay-attract mode with some attract sound modifications
* after pressing start button, it is checked if the "online-Tournament" mode is "on". if yes, the last or the 2 last scores in the table will be set to default.
* when donkey kong climbs up the ladder, the "scores are ready to upload"-flag will be deleted
* before every level, the level-lineup-routine will check the virtual dip switch and sets the next level in order what you chose in the main menu.
* when a sprite-number is set for the main player, the routine checks the virtual dip if pauline-mode is "on". if yes, it converts the number and the color to Pauline
* if pauline-mode is on, the text "help" is one line lower because mario is smaller than pauline
* the initials are extended to 12 digits and code is added for "up" and "down" when registering your name, time extended to 60 seconds.
* highscore save after entering the initials
* highscore-upload flag is set (depending on the Online-Mode)
the "biggest" change is in my opinion the "switchable-paule-mod"
question #2+3
right now it is not possible. (we didn#t intend to produce a savekit that is accepted for a competition)
but i can make a special version that can do that (if there is a demand).
for example: in the main-menu, you will choose if you want to have the original code, or the "special" code (with practice) etc).
i can offer a byte by byte comparison of the code (if needed)
i can also offer the source-code for the "original" one, that everybody (e.g. TG) could check the changes of the original code.
this means some work for me and i hope you understand, that i will do this only, if there is a demand for it
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here some additional informations about the practice-modes:
there are the following practice-level-linups:
only barrel (starting from level1 -> 21) (the game will start with L=01, but only the barrel stage)
only pie factory (starting from level1 -> 21) (the same as barrel)
only elevator (starting from level1 -> 21) (the same as barrel)
only rivet (starting from level1 -> 21)(the same as barrel)
american lineup (starting from level 5->21, = barrel,pie factory,barrel,elevator,barrel,rivet) (the game will start with L=05)
japanese lineup (starting from level 5->21, = barrel,pie factory,elevator,rivet) (the game will start with L=05)
in all of these practice-modes you can slow down the game by pressing both start buttons. (that is for timing purposes). pressing the buttons again it'll go back to normal speed.
i hope i could answer some questions.
if there are more questions, feel free to ask.
Greetings
Jochen
