Topic: Robowarrior - NES

[majax79]

Hello,



I know I made a request below. This is a game I really need a map on sadly. I assume the items remain in a fixed position.



If I knew how to make maps I would do it myself and post. To make robowarrior maps, do you have to blow everything up to show the items and secrets?

[Maxim]

You either make maps by making everything visible in-game, and merging all the screenshots to make the whole map, or you have to hack the game to read its data directly. The former is easier (requires you to play the game and take screenshots) while the latter is incredibly hard - but does offer the possibility to discover 100% of the details.



GameFAQs has a complete-looking walkthrough, if that's what you "need" the maps for.

[Revned]

I think we really need a tutorial for making maps, it would help a lot of people. Also, Jon should put an actual page with contribution guidelines like he had years ago. I remember finding it helpful when I submitted my first map.

[DarkWolf]

One could always try to record his/her desktop while making a map but that would either produce a huge video file or you'd have to reduce the resolution, which I think would make it harder to follow.

[majax79]

I'd love to hack robowarrior but it sounds pretty hard. For a complete noob a tutorial would help tremendously. I've only used FCEUX to play my games.



I have made a contribution of a different kind though. I spent a few days figuring out how many new games were released in the US and licensed for the nes. 677. I got every single one of those roms, rared em up and made a torrent for people to enjoy.

[Revned]

See, that's why I think we need a tutorial. Most newcomers assume there is romhacking involved. Just take screenshots and paste them together.

[TerraEsperZ]

I've thought about making a screenshot mapping tutorial once, but my tendency to do things fully and perfectly or not at all quickly shot that down.



A good tutorial would cover the basics first (taking screenshots and pasting them together), then continue with intermediate (disabling layers, transparencies) and advanced techniques (memory hacking, video buffer capture, emulator specific and custom tools, etc).



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Current projects: Bucky O'Hare (NES), Metal Storm (NES), Clock Tower (SNES), Ristar-The Shooting Star (Gen), Sonic The Hedgehog (Gen), Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES)

[majax79]

I mean, I could bomb an entire screen in robowarrior but I would be confused as to where to start the screen and where to end it if that makes any sense.



I always wondered how people got thos icons on map too...like how they make a legend. Anyways, if a tutorial came out I could def try it.

[snesmaster]

Here a couple codes for Robowarrior:



Address: 004D   Value: 09   Big Bomb Item

Address: 0066   Value: 09   Life Item

Address: 01C6   Value: FF   Life Energy



The first one gives you infinity Big Bombs to make clearing levels easier.  The second gives you infinity Healing Life Items so if you get low on energy you can just heal as many times as you need to.  The last is a code to stop your health from dropping.  However the big chunks of heal next to the heal bar can still go down so it is still possible to die.  I have not found a code yet to stop the big chunks of health from going down.



These codes were found on the FCEUX emulator.  That should help mapping this game.

[majax79]

Could anyone either explain or point me to the direction of where I can find out about mapping with FCEUX?



I get that I need to clear the screen and all...but I'm just not sure exactlly what to do.

The secrets in the game have been found out. I assume anyways.



The underground part of robowarrior though..omg, that would be impossible to map.



Seems like hacking would be better option, no?

[snesmaster]

Basically you would need to first take screen shots and paste them together.  First do the stage with no sprites (enemies, items and stuff like that).  There is an option to turn them off in FCEUX.



Then after that make a map with all the area cleared showing all the sprites you want to be on the map, like the items.  Then place the map with the sprites on a layer on top of the first one you did.



Finally cut out everything from the top layer except the sprites(items) you want to see in the final map.  There are more ways to do this, but this is one method I use.

[majax79]

Yeah, I think a in depth tutorial would be very helpful for noobs like me.



Idk how to do a screenshot even.

[Maxim]

What emulator are you using?

[TerraEsperZ]

I suggest we start another thread about tutorials since we've clearly gotten off topic.



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Current projects: Bucky O'Hare (NES), Metal Storm (NES), Clock Tower (SNES), Ristar-The Shooting Star (Gen), Sonic The Hedgehog (Gen), Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES)

[Ryan Ferneau]

I don't know if it makes a big difference, but when I tried the Japanese version of this game, "BomberKing", on an emulator, it was able to display the leftmost column correctly; whereas with RoboWarrior, the left side seems to reflect what's coming up on the right side.  It probably wouldn't hurt to check out both versions if you can.