[puckman]+ Ms. Pac-Man-style Ghost Behavior

[jpittman]

This modifies the ghosts to behave as they do in Ms. Pac-Man. The red and pink ghosts' targets during the initial scatter period (or after a life is lost) are randomized using the R register just as they are in Ms. Pac-Man. So if you rely on patterns, you're screwed. Additionally, the reversals have been changed to match: ghosts reverse after the initial scatter period, then again (but stay in chase mode) after 20 more seconds, then again (but stay in chase mode) every 18.2 minutes.

Code: Select all

:puckman:20900000:0E5C:000000AF:FFFFFFFF:Ms. Pac-Man Ghost Behavior:Ms. Pac-Man-style reversals + randomized scatter movement for red/pink ghosts
:puckman:20B10000:274A:2FC0CD4D:FFFFFFFF:Ms. Pac-Man Ghost Behavior (2/9)
:puckman:20B10000:2780:2FC0CD4D:FFFFFFFF:Ms. Pac-Man Ghost Behavior (3/9)
:puckman:20B10000:2FC0:D021E5F5:FFFFFFFF:Ms. Pac-Man Ghost Behavior (4/9)
:puckman:20B10000:2FC4:E65FED2F:FFFFFFFF:Ms. Pac-Man Ghost Behavior (5/9)
:puckman:20B10000:2FC8:235FD706:FFFFFFFF:Ms. Pac-Man Ghost Behavior (6/9)
:puckman:20B10000:2FCC:C9F1E156:FFFFFFFF:Ms. Pac-Man Ghost Behavior (7/9)
:puckman:20B10000:2FD0:391D221D:FFFFFFFF:Ms. Pac-Man Ghost Behavior (8/9)
:puckman:20B10000:2FD4:3B402040:FFFFFFFF:Ms. Pac-Man Ghost Behavior (9/9)

Here's the XML version:

Code: Select all

  <cheat desc="Ms. Pac-Man Ghost Behavior"> <comment>Ms. Pac-Man-style reversals + randomized scatter movement for red/pink ghosts</comment>
    <script state="on">
      <action>temp0 =maincpu.mw@0E5C</action>
      <action>temp1 =maincpu.md@274A</action>
      <action>temp2 =maincpu.md@2780</action>
      <action>temp3 =maincpu.md@2FC0</action>
      <action>temp4 =maincpu.md@2FC4</action>
      <action>temp5 =maincpu.md@2FC8</action>
      <action>temp6 =maincpu.md@2FCC</action>
      <action>temp7 =maincpu.md@2FD0</action>
      <action>temp8 =maincpu.md@2FD4</action>
    </script>
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mw@0E5C=00AF</action>
      <action>maincpu.md@274A=2FC0CD4D</action>
      <action>maincpu.md@2780=2FC0CD4D</action>
      <action>maincpu.md@2FC0=D021E5F5</action>
      <action>maincpu.md@2FC4=E65FED2F</action>
      <action>maincpu.md@2FC8=235FD706</action>
      <action>maincpu.md@2FCC=C9F1E156</action>
      <action>maincpu.md@2FD0=391D221D</action>
      <action>maincpu.md@2FD4=3B402040</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mw@0E5C=temp0 </action>
      <action>maincpu.md@274A=temp1 </action>
      <action>maincpu.md@2780=temp2 </action>
      <action>maincpu.md@2FC0=temp3 </action>
      <action>maincpu.md@2FC4=temp4 </action>
      <action>maincpu.md@2FC8=temp5 </action>
      <action>maincpu.md@2FCC=temp6 </action>
      <action>maincpu.md@2FD0=temp7 </action>
      <action>maincpu.md@2FD4=temp8 </action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

It has been tested with the puckman, pacman, puckmanf, and pacmanf ROM sets but should work with most any clone of Puckman.

With this turned on, you are essentially playing Pac-Man with Ms. Pac-Man ghost rules. The loss of patterned play definitely creates a serious challenge for those not accustomed to grouping techniques. And good luck surviving for very long beyond the 9th key without a pattern to rely on -- you had better know what you're doing! I imagine operators would have been quite happy if this mod was available BITD to eliminate patterned play from Pac-Man once and for all. On the other hand, being able to learn/develop patterns was definitely a contributing factor in the mass appeal of the title in the first place...

[Pugsy]

Very nice indeed, thanks & added.

[pacman_fan]

This is an awsome idea and patch for my all time favorite game of pacman!

Although, I am having trouble getting this new patch to work at the same time as a pacman speed-up
patch. I dont see how the code interferes or what-not with the speed, but I'm at a loss.

I've tried various speed-up routines, but either the game crashes or pacman himself just freezes and wont move at all.

Any thoughts?

[jpittman]

Hmmm... It's quite likely the speed-up patch and my patch are overlapping each other in terms of how they alter the game code and they don't play well together as a result! Unless someone else cares to address this issue, I'm afraid you'll have to choose one or the other and not run both at once.

Why not just play the pacmanf or puckmanf romset which already have the speed-up for Pac-Man as the default behavior? Then you can just apply my cheat to either of those ROMs and get the result you're looking for.

Regards,

J

[pacman_fan]

I normally use the speed-up patch made by by Dave Widel. I like this one becuase it maintains the attract mode
and intermissions properly, while speeding up pacman during game play.

With Daves patch and the Ms. pacman ghost routine, the game crashes and reboots after a short time.
I dont see how daves code and your new conflict, but they do somehow.

The old style speed up for "pacmanf" and "puckmanf" use a simple one byte change at 180B.
With these meathod the game starts, but pacman will sit there at his starting point and wont move!
Same thing, I dont see how the code conflicts, but they do.

If anyone is interested, I can post up the speed-up code for examination!

[Pugsy]

The standard Enable Speed Hack in the cheat file works with the above cheat, I don't know what your problem is?


BTW, you are not using an old version of MAME and the cheat file are you? The single byte poke at 180b was a buggy hack - it got replaced with a 2 byte write yonks ago.

[pacman_fan]

Got it thanks!
I was using a non-standard compile that I test things with.

This is a fun patch to challange the original pacman game, my favorite modification to pacman so far.

[pacman_fan]

I've modified the memory addresses for the Ms. Pac ghost behavior, Tunnel mod, and the up passage mod to work with PACPLUS

<cheat desc="Ms. Pac-Man Ghost Behavior">
<comment>Ms. Pacman-style reversals and randomized scatter movement for Red/Pink ghosts</comment>
<script state="on">
<action>temp0 =maincpu.mw@0E5C</action>
<action>temp1 =maincpu.md@2751</action>
<action>temp2 =maincpu.md@2787</action>
<action>temp3 =maincpu.md@2FDC</action>
<action>temp4 =maincpu.md@2FE0</action>
<action>temp5 =maincpu.md@2FE4</action>
<action>temp6 =maincpu.md@2FE8</action>
<action>temp7 =maincpu.md@2FEC</action>
<action>temp8 =maincpu.md@2FF0</action>
</script>
<script state="run">
<action>maincpu.mw@0E5C=00AF</action>
<action>maincpu.md@2751=2FDCCD4D</action>
<action>maincpu.md@2787=2FDCCD4D</action>
<action>maincpu.md@2FDC=D021E5F5</action>
<action>maincpu.md@2FE0=E65FED2F</action>
<action>maincpu.md@2FE4=235FD706</action>
<action>maincpu.md@2FE8=C9F1E156</action>
<action>maincpu.md@2FEC=391D221D</action>
<action>maincpu.md@2FF0=3B402040</action>
</script>
<script state="off">
<action>maincpu.mw@0E5C=temp0 </action>
<action>maincpu.md@2751=temp1 </action>
<action>maincpu.md@2787=temp2 </action>
<action>maincpu.md@2FDC=temp3 </action>
<action>maincpu.md@2FE0=temp4 </action>
<action>maincpu.md@2FE4=temp5 </action>
<action>maincpu.md@2FE8=temp6 </action>
<action>maincpu.md@2FEC=temp7 </action>
<action>maincpu.md@2FF0=temp8 </action>
</script>
</cheat>

<cheat desc="Ghosts Go Up All Passages and Ignore Tunnel Slowdown">
<comment>Ghosts can travel up restricted passages and no longer slow down when traveling through side tunnels</comment>
<script state="on">
<action>temp0 =maincpu.mb@1C75</action> */ Up Passages
<action>temp1 =maincpu.mb@1D4C</action> */
<action>temp2 =maincpu.mb@1E0A</action> */
<action>temp3 =maincpu.mb@1EFA</action> */
<action>temp4 =maincpu.mb@2063</action> */ Tunnel slowdown
</script>
<script state="run">
<action>maincpu.mb@1C75=00</action>
<action>maincpu.mb@1D4C=00</action>
<action>maincpu.mb@1E0A=00</action>
<action>maincpu.mb@1EFA=00</action>
<action>maincpu.mb@2063=00</action>
</script>
<script state="off">
<action>maincpu.mb@1C75=temp0 </action>
<action>maincpu.mb@1D4C=temp1 </action>
<action>maincpu.mb@1E0A=temp2 </action>
<action>maincpu.mb@1EFA=temp3 </action>
<action>maincpu.mb@2063=temp4 </action>
</script>
</cheat>