[MLC] Move List Cheat WIP

This forum is for making announcements about updated cheat files (for any emulator), updated web pages and of course about improvements to the MAME/MESS cheat engine.
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kelvSYC
Posts: 1121
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2001 1:00 am
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada

[MLC] Move List Cheat WIP

Post by kelvSYC »

This thread will show you, the cheat user, my progress on kelvSYC's Move List Cheat Collection. The latest version can be found at http://members.shaw.ca/kelvsyc/kelvmlc.zip. As with all other projects, this is merely a WIP status report and may not reflect changes made in the current or future versions of the MLC Collection.

Feel free to make any WIP-related inquiries or comments in this thread.

8-19-03: So far, searching in Waku Waku 7 has turned up little, although I've seemed to figure out MLCs for Cyberbots. Its structure is a cross between that of SFA3 and Fatal Fury, and with each MLC requiring four bytes (a two-byte timer is used, which has to be frozen at a low number like 0x03), one cheat line should cover all. I'm done making the cheats for the Blodia-type VAs, the rest should come in a week.

What I've also found is that all the GameFAQs guides on Cyberbots are inaccurate. For example, not all VAs have Arm Ripper attacks (every guide there says it's common to all VAs). For what it's worth, Japanese Guides are better than their English counterparts (although for Cyberbots, you'd have to wade through boatloads of katakana - Gaits is the only VA with moves in Kanji).

Naturally, the MLC collection would require a MAJOR rewrite to correct move names (it's more painful with large rosters). Now here comes a question: English-speaking audiences prefer the current joystick notation (qcf, hcb, etc.) whereas Japanese sites prefer the ten-button notation (236, 63214, etc.). Which notation would you prefer, or would you prefer not to have a notation at all?
kelvSYC's Guide to the Cheat Engine - http://members.shaw.ca/kelvsyc/cheatguide.html

The New Move List Cheat Collection - http://mamecheat.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6469

Underscore Command - What better game is there?
kelvSYC
Posts: 1121
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2001 1:00 am
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada

Post by kelvSYC »

8-20-03: I'm done the Reptos-type VAs, and I found out that even the Japanese guides are mistaken in some cases.

To clarify about the "cross between SFA3 and Fatal Fury", In the Fatal Fury games, MLC values are set up so that EVERY attack is a charge-based move, but for moves that don't require a charge, the timer (which controls how long before a proper charge is recognized) is set to a small value (usually 0x01) so that it appears as if you aren't "charging" at all (when in fact you are, but just for two frames). The SFA3 part comes in the fact that two bytes control the status - the first byte controls the overall status (charged, performing the move, and ready to deploy move) and the second its step by step status (ie. each good step increments this byte).

I was hoping to get the Fordy-type VAs done, but with university commitments and the fact MacMAME crashed when I accidentally disconnected my mouse (for MLCs, you HAVE to run MAME in a window), I might not get those done until tomorrow (I hope to funish the Guldin-type VAs as well).
kelvSYC's Guide to the Cheat Engine - http://members.shaw.ca/kelvsyc/cheatguide.html

The New Move List Cheat Collection - http://mamecheat.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6469

Underscore Command - What better game is there?
kelvSYC
Posts: 1121
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2001 1:00 am
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada

Post by kelvSYC »

8-22-03: I never knew a game would be that addictive. That's why I still haven't done MLCs for Fordy or Guldin VAs yet.

Now I need some help. I need to know which moves can be done without the arm. For that, I'd need a cheat to have a character be disarmed all the time... check the cheats forum for that cheat...
kelvSYC's Guide to the Cheat Engine - http://members.shaw.ca/kelvsyc/cheatguide.html

The New Move List Cheat Collection - http://mamecheat.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6469

Underscore Command - What better game is there?
kelvSYC
Posts: 1121
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2001 1:00 am
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada

Post by kelvSYC »

8-23-03: Fordy and Guldin-type VAs are done, as well as Gaits and Super-8. An interesting thing about Gaits is that he is so much like a shoto. Since Zero-Gouki is in the home version, I'll say he's a Zero-Gouki-wannabe of sorts...

Also to note is that a few of the moves from Super 8 have Greek letters, and because of MAME's ASCII limitations, I have to write the full letters out.
kelvSYC's Guide to the Cheat Engine - http://members.shaw.ca/kelvsyc/cheatguide.html

The New Move List Cheat Collection - http://mamecheat.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6469

Underscore Command - What better game is there?
kelvSYC
Posts: 1121
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2001 1:00 am
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada

Post by kelvSYC »

8-24-03: Finished up the rest of Cyberbots, now the tedious work of duplication begins.

An obstacle to speak of - I still have no idea how 360 moves work in Cyberbots (there is only one such move to speak of, anyways). In either case, it works, so you can't complain.

Also, Killer Bee and Warlock also use Greek letters in moves.
kelvSYC's Guide to the Cheat Engine - http://members.shaw.ca/kelvsyc/cheatguide.html

The New Move List Cheat Collection - http://mamecheat.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6469

Underscore Command - What better game is there?
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abogard
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Post by abogard »

I prefer the qcf+P notation, quite frankly I wouldn't understand any other way. :D

Any chances for you to work on Last Blade and Last Blade 2?
kelvSYC
Posts: 1121
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2001 1:00 am
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada

Post by kelvSYC »

I came up with zeroes a few months ago, and I think such cheats may require unconventional tactics (ie. I'd need to use the debugger).
kelvSYC's Guide to the Cheat Engine - http://members.shaw.ca/kelvsyc/cheatguide.html

The New Move List Cheat Collection - http://mamecheat.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6469

Underscore Command - What better game is there?
kelvSYC
Posts: 1121
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2001 1:00 am
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada

Post by kelvSYC »

9-19-03

I came to the realization that I've used the wrong short name for Real Bout Special (it's rbffspec and not rbffs). Oh well, yet another thing to fix until the next version...

By the way, I haven't started on any new games (because for some unknown reason I need to recompile MAME every time I reboot).
kelvSYC's Guide to the Cheat Engine - http://members.shaw.ca/kelvsyc/cheatguide.html

The New Move List Cheat Collection - http://mamecheat.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6469

Underscore Command - What better game is there?
kelvSYC
Posts: 1121
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2001 1:00 am
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada

Post by kelvSYC »

1-4-04

Wow. Time to take this out of the shelf where it was collecting dust and hope that my rewrite (version 2.0) is done in time to be included in the next cheat file.

The proper directions for performing a cheat has been moved OFF of the cheat comments and into comment lines that appear before each section. This is because knowledge of the moves is not particularly essential to the game.

A few issues remain:
- Would anyone want character move lists in the file? This list would be a comprehensive move list, and would appear before each character (since this is usually in the tail end of the list of cheats for each game in Pugsy's file, I do have some considerable freedom about how I arrange my cheats)

Quick example (of course this will be formatted better in the final file):

Code: Select all

; Ryu
; Hadou Ken    qcf+P
; Shouryuu Ken    dp+P
; Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku    qcb+K

:gamename:6000000:000000:00000000:FFFFFFFF:[Use for Ryu P1]
; P1 code goes here
; then P2's code

; Then the move list for Ken
If so, would you want the character notation (which I've been using) or the ten-number notation (236P for Hadou Ken, LP+LP+6+LK+HP for Shun Goku Satsu, 236HPHK to do a team super, P means LPorMPorHP etc)?
kelvSYC's Guide to the Cheat Engine - http://members.shaw.ca/kelvsyc/cheatguide.html

The New Move List Cheat Collection - http://mamecheat.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6469

Underscore Command - What better game is there?
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Gemini78
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Post by Gemini78 »

> If so, would you want the character notation (which I've been using) or the
> ten-number notation (236P for Hadou Ken, LP+LP+6+LK+HP for Shun Goku Satsu,
> 236HPHK to do a team super, P means LPorMPorHP etc)?

I like the notations like QCF+P and BF+P rather than 236P or 46P.
When I see numbers, I think of 1 2 3 as LP MP HP and 4 5 6 as LK MK HK.
kelvSYC
Posts: 1121
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2001 1:00 am
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada

Post by kelvSYC »

1-15-04

I've seen to hit some kind of snag. Pocket Fighter references, as I found, were generally unreliable, and of those that I found, I have no idea what ウォンチューヴォルシチ means (is it Russian that has been turned into katakana?). Otherwise, all is well and I could release a beta file sometime soon.
kelvSYC's Guide to the Cheat Engine - http://members.shaw.ca/kelvsyc/cheatguide.html

The New Move List Cheat Collection - http://mamecheat.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6469

Underscore Command - What better game is there?
kelvSYC
Posts: 1121
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2001 1:00 am
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada

Post by kelvSYC »

2-20-06

Wow, it's been a long time away. Time to get back to business.

I've since lost the cybots MLCs, so I'd have to look for them again. However, in its absence, I now have MLCs for samsho5.

As an executive decision, for all new MLCs I have made the following executive decisions:

* the type of move is now in the comment (ie. the name of the cheat will be "Shinkuu Hadou Ken" and not "Shinkuu Hadou Ken (SC)", for instance)
* For MLCs with alternate execution commands, I've simplified the notation by parenthesizing the alternate execution command. The alternate execution command will also be the first part of any supplementary comments.
* Most importantly, GNU m4 will be required to compile the MLC file. Regular System V m4 will not do, as GNU extension macros are needed. To get your cheat list, simply download the specified file, and then run the following on the command line (yes, I'm a csh user):

Code: Select all

[kelvSYC:~] kelvSYC % m4 -Dgamename=name -o name_mlc.dat name_mlc.m4
For more information about GNU m4, check out http://www.gnu.org/software/m4
kelvSYC's Guide to the Cheat Engine - http://members.shaw.ca/kelvsyc/cheatguide.html

The New Move List Cheat Collection - http://mamecheat.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6469

Underscore Command - What better game is there?
kelvSYC
Posts: 1121
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2001 1:00 am
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada

Post by kelvSYC »

2-21-06

Conversion to the m4 files is slightly more frustrating than I thought, if only for the fact that that I have to change the default quotes from `' to <> (so moves like Ko'ou Ken or Ten'i Daihou won't cause an accidental end-quote - the good part is that as I use <> for move names in which I cannot find the official name, I can now disguise it through double-quoting).

As you can see, a couple of the longer MLCs are up in the NMLCC form.

The good thing about m4 is that it is a macro preprocessor, so I simply need only to note down equivalencies and such, and also hardwire the move list for only the first player (all other player addresses are calculated by m4). For the Neo-Geo MLCs that I have, it also gives me a way to package the universals and slash moves together and make sure they are always correct (so long as the P1 address is correct).

This, of course, leads me to save a lot of space. :-)

Took a look at samsh5sp for the first time, and I can confidently say that the basic and supplement cheats are identical to samsho5. So with any luck, I only need to deal with the bosses and the characters whose movelists have actually changed - the rest I can copy from samsho5.
kelvSYC's Guide to the Cheat Engine - http://members.shaw.ca/kelvsyc/cheatguide.html

The New Move List Cheat Collection - http://mamecheat.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6469

Underscore Command - What better game is there?
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