[ATTN Ian] Seems like a farfetched idea, but...

kelvSYC · Post by **kelvSYC** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 2:53 am

Would it be possible to implement some way of converting console cheat devices (GameShark, etc) into actual MESS cheats (in MESS cheat format) in the next revision of the cheat engine?

It seems like a farfetched idea since this would have to be implemented on a console by console basis...

ianpatt · Post by **ianpatt** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 4:27 am

Yes. Doing this will take some time, because I will need to do some research on the cheat formats used by each of the systems.

kelvSYC · Post by **kelvSYC** » Sun Jul 21, 2002 1:43 am

So would it be like all within MESS (a menu option like "Add Cheat Device Code", or would you be able to actually insert a cheat device code into a cheat.dat file and MESS would do all the conversion (like it is with old cheats and new cheats?

ianpatt · Post by **ianpatt** » Mon Jul 22, 2002 12:39 am

Here's my current idea for the UI:

In all supported systems which had a cheating device, the main cheat menu will have an option, possibly different for each system (for example: "Add Game Genie Code".) If a system had more than one cheat device, either more menu items would be added, or the generic "Add Cheat Device Code" would be used.

The code entering dialog would be formatted like this:

Code: Select all

+------------------------------+
| Code:          [the code]    |
| Format:      < Game Genie >  |
|                              |
|       Add and Activate       |
|              Add             |
|      Return to Main Menu     |
+------------------------------+

ph33r my l33t ASCII art skillz!

I don't think that I'll add support for including cheat device codes in the cheat.dat. After conversion to the native cheat format, of course they could be saved normally, though.

The cheat name would be generated automatically. Something like: "[cheat device name]:

Code: Select all

".

kelvSYC · Post by **kelvSYC** » Mon Jul 22, 2002 4:28 am

But the next problem is that whether it would mess up the accuracy of the emulation of such devices.

Would the presence of a cheat device BIOS (like one of those rom dumps) be required? And would the cheat engine include support for a cheat entered through an emulated cheat device (eg. you boot MESS with the emulated cheat device and add a cheat through there, will the MESS cheat engine detect it and override the cheat device, converting the cheat to MESS cheat format and adding it to your MESS cheat list)?

Also, many cheat devices limit the number of cheats you can make. Will this be an issue?

ianpatt · Post by **ianpatt** » Mon Jul 22, 2002 6:08 am

The cheat device wouldn't actually be emulated. The cheat codes would be converted to the native cheat engine format, then they would be treated like regular cheats.

Real support for cheat devices in most cases would need to be done in the driver, and even then it wouldn't be very easy.