Stop creating useless threads x2.

25 days later... lol

This is the code that reads CHK files.
https://github.com/Dirbaio/NSMB-Editor/blob/master/NSMBe4/NSMBTileset.cs#L388-L394

CHK files are super simple, they're the tile behavior files.
They contain 4 bytes for each Map16 tile. The first 4 bytes are the behavior for Map16 tile 0 (the one at the top left), next 4 are for tile 1 (the one next to the right) and so on for all tiles, in left-to-right, top-to-down order.

There are lots of zeros because there are lots of tiles that have all zeros as their behavior

They are hardcoded based on Map16 tile numbers. The game will render a 3d polygon on top of the tile if it sees a Map16 tile of these numbers.

Same for all the other 3d tiles: fences, pipes, the 2d water...

Why is this not in the trash?

Fixed!

Totally original thread idea, definitely not stolen from anyone.

Hey, it's me who's supposed to be roasted here!

I think he's talking about the jumpscare I added for April Fools, not my profile picture

I removed it the morning after, it's gone now.

This post is CRAP

I've done more testing about writing commercial ROMs to gamecards, because I could only get it to work when changing the game code to "NTRJ, which seemed weird to me.

There's some interesting info in this thread (needs login, PDF)

To summarize:
- There is extra "encryption data" in the ROM region at 0x0200 - 0x3fff.
- Cards don't allow you to read out the encryption data, so this region is zerofilled in commercial ROM dumps.
- Cards NEED the encryption data to encrypt communications.

This encryption data is calculated from the game's code with Nintendo's Secret Algorithm that game developers didn't have access to. To allow devs to write their games during development, the is-nitro-debugger software has the security data for NTRJ game code embedded, and silently writes it for you when you write a NTRJ game to a card. THIS is why it worked only with NTRJ game code.

ndstool does have the algorithm to generate the encryption data! But it still doesn't work, why? Turns out ndstool has a bug, it writes some of the data to the wrong offset.

The bug is that it writes the "sbox data" to 0x2800 instead of 0x1c00. Note that the sbox data is 0x1000 bytes long, so ndstool is afterwards overwriting half of it when writing the test data at 0x3000. Due to that, encrypting with the current ndstool, then using an hex editor to move the data from 0x2800 to 0x1c00 is not going to work! You need to compile ndstool from source with the fix.

I sent a pull request. With that fix, encrypting and writing a ROM gives you a working flash game card!

Yay!

IS-NITRO-WRITER Teardown!

Top, with 8 DS slots.


Side, with power, DIP switches, USB.


Bottom, with serial sticker and option sticker. The "BACKUP" option allows you to write (or read?) the game card backup memory too (for game saves).


Taking out the cover reveals the structure: there are 4 boards with 2 slots each, plugged into a "main board".


Removing the 4 slot boards shows the connector board, with some huge heatsinks.


It can be unscrewed and taken out, revealing a NEC v850 CPU board.


The bottom of the case is just the 5 stand off screws soldered.


NEC V850 cpu board up close. It looks VERY similar to the one in the IS-NITRO-EMULATOR. Probably same design with different layout. Also interesting is it has space for another of these white huge connectors, unpopulated.


Slot adapter board. FPGAs and some RAM?


And finally, the slot boards. They have these black wires for grounding soldered into the slots' covers, that go to the grounding pin at the back of the case.

Fixed!

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>>4

LOL, asdf

I hope you like them

The "Dirbaio's Board" thing and the ABXD logo are temporary.

Suggestions?

First, welcome to the new forums.
I hope you like them and I hope that this will mark a new era in the NSMB Hacking scene too...

Some things I want YOU to know:
[readmore]

• This board is independent, hosted by me, managed by me.
  
• This means that we're starting over: If you left the old forum because you were banned, you did not like or whatever, you're welcome again here.
  
• However, this is only a second opportunity. As always, if you act like an idiot, you'll probably be banned here too.
  
• As always, the rules apply: Don't post ROM's (hacked or not. patches are fine), be respectful with others, don't spam, etc etc.
  
• Question threads are allowed now! because we have subforums. Post them in the right subforum please.
  
• Post threads for your hacks in this subforum!
  
  Umm. I'll probably post announcements for more stuff.

Great

C'mon. Nobody!?

@ray: Yees!! An IRC channel is a nice idea I'll see if I can get around to install an IRC server here...

Back on subject, I don't want the name to contain "Dirbaio". It's a NSMB hacking board, not "my" board.
NSMBeAB is cool, but I'd like it to be more explanative. Something like "The NSMB Hackboard"? "The NSMB Hacking Domain"?