Need old ZSNES versions

[Devon_v]

I've developed a passing interest in SNES ROM graphical hacking, and I am trying to get at the palette data in a number of ROMs. The issue I am having is that TileLayerPro can't read the present format of the ZST files, and snespalfind is really obtuse, doesn't come with the manual that the readme claims it does, and the author's website no longer exists.

Thus I'm stuck with no easy way to locate and load the palettes so that I can make any sense of the tile data in TLP.

So does anyone have a really old version of ZSNES from 2000 or 2001? The March 2003 which is the oldest version in ipher's doesn't seem to work either. I've tried The King of Dragons, which results in gibberish palettes that don't match any of the tilesets, and Final Fantasy 4, which imports a completely blank palette. My guess is that at some point the palette data was moved to a different offset in the ZST.

[Deathlike2]

Have you actually tried VSNES? That should help you deal with current ZST files.

[franpa]

http://www.zophar.net/zsnes/

maybe this? unless there too old... then maybe try the ones at www.zsnes.com

[creaothceann]

[adventure_of_link]

and what was the point of making a blank post.

[Deathlike2]

and what was the point of making a blank post.

Hint: It is obvious why.

[Firon]

A blank post is as useful as one of franpa's?

[Deathlike2]

A blank post is as useful as one of franpa's?

No, it is actually useful.

Even bigger hint: Follow what I said initially in this thread.

[Gil_Hamilton]

Further hint: Signatures rule.

[PHoNyMiKe]

subtle hint: VSNES FOR THE WIN!

you want palettes and graphics and all sorts of other stuff from savestates: vsnes!

[sweener2001]

that was really dense of you guys right there. awesome

[creaothceann]

and what was the point of making a blank post.

So you have the sigblock hack installed then?

[Devon_v]

Thanks for the links. That old mirror at Zophar is really cool, as I've been looking for really, really, really old copies of ZSNES as well for the nostalgia factor of reliving the early days of emulation. (Also, I want to give Starfox another shot in the version before they fixed the polygon display bug. I used to be able to get up to the Rock Crusher, and with some luck, I think I could beat it.)

[Devon_v]

VSNES is interesting, although it doesn't have any editing capibility that I can see. It also won't export palettes into any format that TLP can import. (More TLP's fault for having a proprietary format) TLP might be bugged with its ZST->palette import, as the 2001 releases (concurrent with the last TLP versions) don't seem to work, either. I can manually transfer the palette data entry by entry from VSNES, which is only a little bit tedious. As I was starting to fear though King of Dragon uses a dynamic palette, which means lots of ZSTs to capture the whole thing, and odds are that it will be impossible to edit the colors at my level of knowledge.

Ah, well. At least I have somthing now. Thanks again for the links.

[Jipcy]

for the nostalgia factor of reliving the early days of emulation.

Wow.

You deserve a sig quote.

[creaothceann]

VSNES is interesting, although it doesn't have any editing capibility that I can see.

Well yes, it doesn't have dedicated support for changing large amounts of data (tiles/tilemaps/sounds).

It also won't export palettes into any format that TLP can import. (More TLP's fault for having a proprietary format)

If you know about that format then I should be able to support it. Have you tried the formats listed in the options window?

EDIT: Nevermind, got it. Implementing it in vSNES shouldn't take long...

[Devon_v]

Wow.

You deserve a sig quote.

Uh, thanks.

I mainly remember playing Chrono Trigger for the first time on the old DOS versions of ZSNES, back when you needed to get SciTech Display Doctor to get any decent graphics modes going. Emulation was evolving as I played. I got though most of the first visit to 600 AD without sound, played through 2300 AD before translucency, got up to the Black Omen before the clipping windows were anything close to accurate. Heck for the longest time opening the menu that switches party members crashed the game, so I had to play what I was given.

VSNES is interesting, although it doesn't have any editing capibility that I can see.

Well yes, it doesn't have dedicated support for changing large amounts of data (tiles/tilemaps/sounds).

Sorry, I wasn't looking that deeply at it. It does do raw hex editing, and I like the ability to scan the different memory areas. I also didn't realize you were the author. I was speaking conversationally, not really criticizing it.

It also won't export palettes into any format that TLP can import. (More TLP's fault for having a proprietary format)

If you know about that format then I should be able to support it. Have you tried the formats listed in the options window?

EDIT: Nevermind, got it. Implementing it in vSNES shouldn't take long...

Hey, cool, thanks a lot. I'm much better with pixel art than programming. I understand enough to work through it, but I really need programs like this to take the real hack work out of it for me.

After a bit more study, I'm really going to need VSNES for this. The King of Dragons does a lot of dynamic swapping of palettes and sprite data. There seem to be at least two palette rows that are cycled depending on what enemies are being spawned to make the game more colorful. I'm assuming that two more rows are dedicated to the player characters, and the first two seem to be dedicated to the interface and icons. The rest are apparently level dependent. It's a very effective setup. Looking at it all, I might have to pass on modding any of the enemies, but I think I can still handle the player characters.

I've rather enjoyed this look into the workings of the SNES. I knew that it used a 256 color palette with the hardware blender achieving the theoretical 32,000 colors, but it was interesting to see how it was actually broken down into 4-bit mini palettes. It's such a fascinating machine.

[Gil_Hamilton]

Wow.

You deserve a sig quote.

Uh, thanks.

I mainly remember playing Chrono Trigger for the first time on the old DOS versions of ZSNES, back when you needed to get SciTech Display Doctor to get any decent graphics modes going. Emulation was evolving as I played. I got though most of the first visit to 600 AD without sound, played through 2300 AD before translucency, got up to the Black Omen before the clipping windows were anything close to accurate. Heck for the longest time opening the menu that switches party members crashed the game, so I had to play what I was given.

You're harder core than I ever was. I got in after transparencies were implemented, but when most people still couldn't use them because they didn't have VESA2 boards.

Never had to use SDD, though. Used S3's own upgrade TSR on my Virge, then moved to a TNT1 that was VESA2 out of the box.


Long as we're on a nostalgia kick... anyone have any r3gged sci tech display d0ctor serial numbahZ?

[franpa]

http://www.scitechsoft.com/ftp/sdd/

[creaothceann]

It also won't export palettes into any format that TLP can import.

Now it does. (link)

Make sure you configure it for "TPL" palette files in the options (not required for reading the files).

EDIT: Fixed the link.

[Devon_v]

I was going to wait until I got a chance to try it out to post, but I've been too busy lately, so I just want to say thanks again for adding the TLP format. I'll post again with proper feedback when I get the chance to put it to use.

[Romeo]

Is there a repository where I can download all existing ZSNES versions? A page like this would be awesome, without the links being dead of course. http://zsnes.zophar.net/archives.html

EDIT: I found this http://files.ipherswipsite.com/zsnes/ not sure if it hosts all existing versions but its good enough for me! God bless whoever owns that site.

[odditude]

that would be ipher.