Colecovision Ms Space Fury Hack Needed

[kevates]

I'm trying to create a full size arcade cabinet version of Colecovision Ms Space Fury and need help hacking the ROM to remove the player/skill select screen, setting the skill level to 3, and allowing 1 and 2 player to be selected using the left and right fire button on the controller.  Trying to simplify the control panel on the arcade cabinet as much as possible.  Not sure how hard this is to do.  Anyone willing to help?

[+nanochess]

This game was made by @newcoleco maybe you should chime to ask for help.

[MrDave]

This should not be too hard to hack... look for the op codes of the rom call that does the screen select..and change the wait keypress to a auto 3..  have you done it yet ? ..i enjoy hacking and would give it a try..

[kevates]

Have not done this and don’t know how.  Would love the help!

[MrDave]

Lol newcoleco is a pro coder.. not as simple as i thought lol.. i am gonna try..

[Captain Cozmos]

On 4/23/2024 at 4:20 PM, kevates said:

I'm trying to create a full size arcade cabinet version of Colecovision Ms Space Fury and need help hacking the ROM to remove the player/skill select screen, setting the skill level to 3, and allowing 1 and 2 player to be selected using the left and right fire button on the controller.  Trying to simplify the control panel on the arcade cabinet as much as possible.  Not sure how hard this is to do.  Anyone willing to help?

 

I looked into it.
From first glance it's a mishmash of hacks.  Everything you want should be amazingly easy.
I can disassemble the game and then you can do whatever you want with it.  Reassemble with TNIASM

 

"But", it's not my game and I wouldn't want someone releasing my code.

So, if anyone out there with ideas or permissions then let me know and I'll do this when I get a moment.

Edited June 10 by Captain Cozmos

[MrDave]

Lol newcoleco is a pro coder.. not as simple as i thought lol.. i am gonna try..

 

 

If i could get tge debugger working better in bluemsx i would have better luck.. i found a keypress routine in rom.. bur not sure where it jumped from lol

[kevates]

Any help you could give would be very much appreciated.  
 

I connected with all the creators of the game - been working with Joe Santulli - messaged with newcoleco and original source code was lost and they couldn't help - slydc sent me all the versions of the rom from the game development but none worked for what we needed.  They are all supportive of the project and Joe told me the game was released to the public domain.

 

If you could disassemble and send the code to MrDave, that would really be helpful.

[Captain Cozmos]

7 hours ago, kevates said:

Any help you could give would be very much appreciated.  
 

I connected with all the creators of the game - been working with Joe Santulli - messaged with newcoleco and original source code was lost and they couldn't help - slydc sent me all the versions of the rom from the game development but none worked for what we needed.  They are all supportive of the project and Joe told me the game was released to the public domain.

 

If you could disassemble and send the code to MrDave, that would really be helpful.

I'll work on the disassembly when I get some free time.
No offense, but the owners can PM me any time so I don't have to put a 3rd party on the spot before I release it.
 

[Captain Cozmos]

9 hours ago, MrDave said:

Lol newcoleco is a pro coder.. not as simple as i thought lol.. i am gonna try..

 

 

If i could get tge debugger working better in bluemsx i would have better luck.. i found a keypress routine in rom.. bur not sure where it jumped from lol

All you said is probably true, no disputing.
I use all professional software and hardware with my work.
As in all pipes lead to the sewer.  Some of us use the toilet, some of us use the shower.  I tend to use the kitchen sink just to irritate my wife.

 

[MrDave]

On 4/23/2024 at 4:20 PM, kevates said:

I'm trying to create a full size arcade cabinet version of Colecovision Ms Space Fury and need help hacking the ROM to remove the player/skill select screen, setting the skill level to 3, and allowing 1 and 2 player to be selected using the left and right fire button on the controller.  Trying to simplify the control panel on the arcade cabinet as much as possible.  Not sure how hard this is to do.  Anyone willing to help?

You could start with changing rom bytes at 1c63 from 3A 06 07 to 00 3E 02

this represents 9C63 address in the machine..

Just a hack... i am learning to use the debugger in bluemsx ... still just a bit better than noob on this system lol

 

[Captain Cozmos]

OK, I did a quick disassembly of the binary and here are my current observations.  You can always change my mind and these are first thought.

This looks like Jumpman Junior was hacked to death.  Could have been Miner 2049'er.  I have no real clue without further investigation.

As far as the disassembly it goes everywhere and off the charts because a normal assembly would have proper data addressing while this has patched in area's that point to data elsewhere.
As in, here is the flow of code which abruptly stops in the routine and jumps to where the patch is which takes over flow.
These jumps are all over the place, maybe 50 so far at first glance.

 

I found similar behavior with that Centipede hack...Rollerpede?  So I suspect they used the same tools.

This is one of those challenges of tracking down each line item, correcting the offsets and blah blah blah.

It works because the CPU does not care where the flow goes, it only acts on the information.  These are why the hacks either work or they don't.
If you were writing this, an assembler wants it to be correct address with a label or it will give you an error.

So, I may be wrong on any of this.  If you know more then fill in the blanks.

If "I" were to work on this then I would first have to decipher everything then organize it to be a proper source for assembly with the changes wanted by Kevates

In it's present form, what is requested to be done, would require it to be hacked like it was in the beginning.
Again, I could be wrong.

[kevates]

I’ll check in with Joe Santulli in the morning and see what he remembers.  Did they start with jumpman? With miner?  He was purely the concept person ao he probably doesn't know the technical details, but ill see what he knows.

Edited June 12 by kevates

[+nanochess]

14 hours ago, kevates said:

I’ll check in with Joe Santulli in the morning and see what he remembers.  Did they start with jumpman? With miner?  He was purely the concept person ao he probably doesn't know the technical details, but ill see what he knows.

I didn't modified the screens, but I had to disable the keypad in the difficulty selection.

 

Pressing the left side-button is like you pressed 3, and pressing the right-side button is like you pressed 7.

 

 

mssf.rom

[kevates]

THANK YOU!  I’ll test this out tonight.

[kevates]

@nanochess. THANK YOU!  Nice work! Loaded the ROM on a BackBit Pro with the Colecovision adapter (works like a charm btw…) Tested it on real hardware.  A one player level 3 game starts with the left fire button (just like a 3 keypress) and two player level 3 game starts with the right fire button (like a 7 keypress)  

 

still needed:

 

1.  a way to get back to the splash screens at the beginning by pushing the left or right fire button at the end of a game.  Still waits for a * or # keypress to move on from the frozen screen at the end of a game.

 

2.  Need a new splash screen that invites player to choose one player (Ms Space Fury) or two players (Ms Space Fury & Space Fury Guy simultaneous) in place of the player/skill select screen

 

Anyone have time to help out with this?

 

Also - anyone in contact with DaveG aka Dave Giarrusso?  He did the graphic design for the cartridge, poster and manual and I’d like to get his help with designing the cabinet?