Yep! Finally, my sophomore days are over and my next step is being "upper" class in high school, a junior. This means a little over 2 months for NON-STOP ZOLE-CODING ACTION! Actually, no it doesn't. It probably means less action than usual.
You see, there's a little something I didn't pay much attention to called a social life. Sure I had one, but I never cared for hanging out with friends. But after today, with getting multiple numbers from girls and music/video plans with friends, I think it's time to let off the programming for a while. Besides, NHL 09 and the Blackhawks aren't gonna win the Stanley Cup themselves!
So what does this mean for ZOLE? Well, not as much caring for it as there has been. I'll still be working on it but not devoting my life to it. In fact, I've really wanted to take on new projects because ZOLE is super boring programming-wise.
So before I close off this post, I want to know how many people actually read this blog. Post a comment below or e-mail me at charliejennings2@hotmail.com, where I actually read e-mails. I'm curious because I feel like I talk to people, but for all I know I could be talking to nobody!
But anyway, until next time, see you later!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Progressing on the Progress of Progressing... Wait, what?
Hey guys, it's been quite a few hours since the last post (or a day, if you choose). Since the last post, I worked on a lot of code for ZOLE Live, but was busy doing a lot of stuff today that got in the way of programming.
So right now, ZOLE Live is working as far as clients connecting, downloading the ROM, and chatting with other people. Here's a picture of what it looks like, with 2 clients and the server console. It's a big image so I'll just link it.
http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/5003/live1g.png
So apart from the second line (I copied and pasted some code from a previous server I wrote for something else), it all looks pretty good. Currently, it doesn't display the users in chat, but it will in the future. The name changing doesn't work when you're connected, and the chatbox doesn't autoscroll down for some reason. When you connect, nothing happens until the ROM is successfully fed. All 4 megs are streamed across every time you connect, and the good thing is it only takes about 30 seconds for a downloader with slowish internet.
Not bad, especially since this is only day 2 of progress. I think the base is now done and I can focus on content from here on out. Tomorrow, school resumes, and there's only 25 more full days until the final day of school.
So that's all for today's post. Hopefully tomorrow the networking engine will be fully complete and I'll be ready to start on things like map editing, other user statuses, and more packets.
Until tomorrow, see ya later!
So right now, ZOLE Live is working as far as clients connecting, downloading the ROM, and chatting with other people. Here's a picture of what it looks like, with 2 clients and the server console. It's a big image so I'll just link it.
http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/5003/live1g.png
So apart from the second line (I copied and pasted some code from a previous server I wrote for something else), it all looks pretty good. Currently, it doesn't display the users in chat, but it will in the future. The name changing doesn't work when you're connected, and the chatbox doesn't autoscroll down for some reason. When you connect, nothing happens until the ROM is successfully fed. All 4 megs are streamed across every time you connect, and the good thing is it only takes about 30 seconds for a downloader with slowish internet.
Not bad, especially since this is only day 2 of progress. I think the base is now done and I can focus on content from here on out. Tomorrow, school resumes, and there's only 25 more full days until the final day of school.
So that's all for today's post. Hopefully tomorrow the networking engine will be fully complete and I'll be ready to start on things like map editing, other user statuses, and more packets.
Until tomorrow, see ya later!
Oh Wow, a New Post!!!
Hey my prehistoric blog followers! It's been Ages (and Seasons :D) since I last posted here, but I'm going to be starting a newish project, which is actually a huge ZOLE feature that made me want to blog. ZOLE 4's birthday is also coming up (May 4th), and I thought: "What a better idea than to bring back the blog!"
So what can the new feature be? Seasons support? Naw, already added that in like 1.18 or something. 100% Visual features and no more numbers? Nope! Custom cutscenes, sprites, and cookies?! Wrong again! Well, cookies would be nice, I do agree with those. But nope! I'm adding a feature called "Team Mode", with the new project titled "ZOLE Live".
"What is ZOLE Live," you might be asking? Well, it's a version of ZOLE that will allow the editing of the same ROM by two or more people, to speed up development and make team editing easy. Like Google Docs, it will show live updates with things like map and interaction editing, and for everything else, just showing "Editing blah". There will also be chatting.
So this project is obviously going to take a while - I have to write a server, add networking to ZOLE, and add packets and updating for every single feature in ZOLE. The first release will only support the Ages tools, but will work with Seasons for things like map editing, since they're the same (Actually, in theory, everything should work in Seasons).
I'm not sure how long it will take, but I'm sure I can't post more than a few sentences without starting a non-indented paragraph. I know how most of the stuff will work, but I'm not sure about things like scripts added in by ZOSE and text editing. I think I'll add features to "upload" data to specific spot, which will change bytes in bulk for each user editing.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this pretty short comeback post. Be expecting more, as I will be posting progress updates. Oh, and join us in the IRC here: irc.caffie.net #ZOLE
Visit the forums: www.zeldahacking.ulmb.com
Until next time, see you later!
So what can the new feature be? Seasons support? Naw, already added that in like 1.18 or something. 100% Visual features and no more numbers? Nope! Custom cutscenes, sprites, and cookies?! Wrong again! Well, cookies would be nice, I do agree with those. But nope! I'm adding a feature called "Team Mode", with the new project titled "ZOLE Live".
"What is ZOLE Live," you might be asking? Well, it's a version of ZOLE that will allow the editing of the same ROM by two or more people, to speed up development and make team editing easy. Like Google Docs, it will show live updates with things like map and interaction editing, and for everything else, just showing "Editing blah". There will also be chatting.
So this project is obviously going to take a while - I have to write a server, add networking to ZOLE, and add packets and updating for every single feature in ZOLE. The first release will only support the Ages tools, but will work with Seasons for things like map editing, since they're the same (Actually, in theory, everything should work in Seasons).
I'm not sure how long it will take, but I'm sure I can't post more than a few sentences without starting a non-indented paragraph. I know how most of the stuff will work, but I'm not sure about things like scripts added in by ZOSE and text editing. I think I'll add features to "upload" data to specific spot, which will change bytes in bulk for each user editing.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this pretty short comeback post. Be expecting more, as I will be posting progress updates. Oh, and join us in the IRC here: irc.caffie.net #ZOLE
Visit the forums: www.zeldahacking.ulmb.com
Until next time, see you later!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
ZOLE Released and a 'New' Site
Well, I know it's been a long time, and I'm sorry, but this post is really late. The moment we've all been waiting for for nearly 2 months (Since the news of ZOLE. I know many people have been waiting years...) has finally come... I released ZOLE quite some time ago, but I forgot about the blog and have been EXTREMELY busy figuring stuff out, fixing bugs, and trying to help everybody out. I've also created two new tools not shown here, and I'm sorry for anyone who follows this blog and doesn't know about them.
But anyway, every tool, tutorial, list, and discussion about the games is now at the forum: http://zeldahacking.ulmb.com/index.php
You'll find two new tools there, which include something to fix chests and a buggy piece of crap text editor (Although others disagree). Here's what it looks like:
So ya, pretty nice in its own right. So be sure to check out the forums.
Honestly, I'm really gonna miss posting here. It was something I looked forward to every night when figuring out and adding those things to ZOLE. But, things change and they're all for the better. I've still got lots to explore and who knows, I might post again. It's really sad to see the end of it though... *sigh* But be sure to check back here some time in the future! You never know what to expect!
If you care about ZOLE and want to help me out, do me a huge favor by advertising the forums and spread the word of ZOLE to everybody you know! The more people hacking the games means the more people discover stuff, and the more people discover stuff, the less I have to do and the better hacks get, and the more popular Zelda Oracles hacking gets, the more hacks we have to play. It's a simple thought but when done can bring massive changes.
But thanks for reading today's, and last for a while, post on ZOLE. Thanks everybody for following, and I hope you have as much fun hacking as I did making the program. So until a day to yet come, see ya later!
But anyway, every tool, tutorial, list, and discussion about the games is now at the forum: http://zeldahacking.ulmb.com/index.php
You'll find two new tools there, which include something to fix chests and a buggy piece of crap text editor (Although others disagree). Here's what it looks like:
So ya, pretty nice in its own right. So be sure to check out the forums.
Honestly, I'm really gonna miss posting here. It was something I looked forward to every night when figuring out and adding those things to ZOLE. But, things change and they're all for the better. I've still got lots to explore and who knows, I might post again. It's really sad to see the end of it though... *sigh* But be sure to check back here some time in the future! You never know what to expect!
If you care about ZOLE and want to help me out, do me a huge favor by advertising the forums and spread the word of ZOLE to everybody you know! The more people hacking the games means the more people discover stuff, and the more people discover stuff, the less I have to do and the better hacks get, and the more popular Zelda Oracles hacking gets, the more hacks we have to play. It's a simple thought but when done can bring massive changes.
But thanks for reading today's, and last for a while, post on ZOLE. Thanks everybody for following, and I hope you have as much fun hacking as I did making the program. So until a day to yet come, see ya later!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
About The Wait
Well, sorry ZOLE hasn't been released yet, but I've been testing it and putting finishing touches. For example, now you can copy/paste map data and middle-click to fill tiles. But, I've also fixed several bugs and since then I haven't been able to find one. I'm creating some part of a hack right now and once I see the dungeon editor works fine, I'll release it.
In the mean time, join the forums. There's a bunch of stuff that's been released and discussed there, even though ZOLE hasn't been released. http://zeldahacking.ulmb.com/index.php
In the mean time, join the forums. There's a bunch of stuff that's been released and discussed there, even though ZOLE hasn't been released. http://zeldahacking.ulmb.com/index.php
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Great News
Well, this is going to be one of the last posts for a while, but you can still expect one more, and then I'll be posting again once I start my other tools. But I didn't post to give you bad news, I posted to give you great news!
I know I said this before, but ZOLE is almost ready for release now more than ever. With ASM scripts created and modified, several window bugs fixed, and many saving bugs fixed, ZOLE is now very stable and has had every bug found fixed (Thanks to Jigglysaint for being the primary beta tester). Now, it will not be released today, and maybe not even tomorrow, but when it does, you'll be glad you waited.
So what's to come? Well, the only thing I have left to add is a patch that basically kills all those little flags in the beginning of the game that removes music and the ability to press start/select. I'm not sure how I'll do it but I'm sure I'll figure out some way (Probably by either finding the flags in the memory and finding what modifies them or following the beginning events).
But until tomorrow, see ya later!
I know I said this before, but ZOLE is almost ready for release now more than ever. With ASM scripts created and modified, several window bugs fixed, and many saving bugs fixed, ZOLE is now very stable and has had every bug found fixed (Thanks to Jigglysaint for being the primary beta tester). Now, it will not be released today, and maybe not even tomorrow, but when it does, you'll be glad you waited.
So what's to come? Well, the only thing I have left to add is a patch that basically kills all those little flags in the beginning of the game that removes music and the ability to press start/select. I'm not sure how I'll do it but I'm sure I'll figure out some way (Probably by either finding the flags in the memory and finding what modifies them or following the beginning events).
But until tomorrow, see ya later!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Beta Testing Day And the Text Engine Cracked
That's right! ZOLE is now finished and ready for testing. This obviously means the Gale Seed Warp Editor is finished and I've applied some finishing touches. However, I only have a few people I want to test. There's 3 others and then myself.
But anyway, I've basically cracked the way text works (Actually, this was about 10 minutes ago). First off, it's a lot more easy to work with than I thought. If you look at the ROM in a hex editor, you'll see words scattered all over bank 1F, and some others. However, a closer look will reveal the true format.
You see, there are basically text types that help build up dialogue. Here they are.
00 - End of text
01 - Scroll
02 - Another reference type, except this one can use images (Maybe others can???)
03 - Reference to another word
04 - Another reference type
05 - Another reference type
Note these are all from trial and error.
When switching from a different type to regular text, nothing needs to be done. Since ASCII basically starts at 0x20 (Space), the game detects it's too high to be an opcode and just reads until there IS a type switch. The good news is, the game auto-wraps the text for us, but we still have to let it know when to scroll. Let's break down the man below the shop's dialogue.
7F97E - "So,"
7F981 - 03 Reference
7F982 - 7A (Inserts " what")
7F983 - "'s" So, what's
7F985 - 03 Reference
7F986 - 29 (Inserts " with")
7F987 - 03 Reference
7F988 - 54 (Inserts " this")
7F989 - "gloomy" So, what's with\nthis gloomy
7F98F - 01 Scroll
7F990 - "uncertainty,"
7F99C - 01 Scroll
7F99D - "anyway?" So, what's with\nthis gloomy\suncertainty\sanyway?
7F9A4 - 00 End
Wow, look at all that! But rest assured. I'm going to be making another tool which is to edit text (A text editor. We're catching up, Pokemon hacking!!!). If at any point you feel like I'm doing all the work while people hack for fun, don't, I love programming and finding data.
So, you may be asking yourself: "When will ZOLE be released?!". Well, when beta testing is over, which will probably be tomorrow. I'll make a post and link you to the forums. Note the forums currently use ULMB's free host, but depending on how well they go, I will pay and get a domain and such.
But until tomorrow, see ya later!
But anyway, I've basically cracked the way text works (Actually, this was about 10 minutes ago). First off, it's a lot more easy to work with than I thought. If you look at the ROM in a hex editor, you'll see words scattered all over bank 1F, and some others. However, a closer look will reveal the true format.
You see, there are basically text types that help build up dialogue. Here they are.
00 - End of text
01 - Scroll
02 - Another reference type, except this one can use images (Maybe others can???)
03 - Reference to another word
04 - Another reference type
05 - Another reference type
Note these are all from trial and error.
When switching from a different type to regular text, nothing needs to be done. Since ASCII basically starts at 0x20 (Space), the game detects it's too high to be an opcode and just reads until there IS a type switch. The good news is, the game auto-wraps the text for us, but we still have to let it know when to scroll. Let's break down the man below the shop's dialogue.
7F97E - "So,"
7F981 - 03 Reference
7F982 - 7A (Inserts " what")
7F983 - "'s" So, what's
7F985 - 03 Reference
7F986 - 29 (Inserts " with")
7F987 - 03 Reference
7F988 - 54 (Inserts " this")
7F989 - "gloomy" So, what's with\nthis gloomy
7F98F - 01 Scroll
7F990 - "uncertainty,"
7F99C - 01 Scroll
7F99D - "anyway?" So, what's with\nthis gloomy\suncertainty\sanyway?
7F9A4 - 00 End
Wow, look at all that! But rest assured. I'm going to be making another tool which is to edit text (A text editor. We're catching up, Pokemon hacking!!!). If at any point you feel like I'm doing all the work while people hack for fun, don't, I love programming and finding data.
So, you may be asking yourself: "When will ZOLE be released?!". Well, when beta testing is over, which will probably be tomorrow. I'll make a post and link you to the forums. Note the forums currently use ULMB's free host, but depending on how well they go, I will pay and get a domain and such.
But until tomorrow, see ya later!
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