GBA Doom II Modding Tools

[Kippykip]

I'm not sure why I've never bothered to make an account here until now, as Doom is my favourite game, but anyway I've been some developing modding tools for the GBA Doom 2 port by Torus Games in Blitzmax if anyone's interested. Main motivation was to uncensor the game which I've finally finished and made a patch for it too if you all want to download it.

But for whatever reason it looks like nobody really modded this version of Doom before, a russian gba modding team "MagicTeam" was able to uncensor the graphics and translate it though. But it looks like it's taken 15 years before a proper modding solution was done haha.

Anyhow these tools allows you to replace:

*Modify, View & Extract in-game Sprites/Textures/Flats

*Modify, View & Extract raw graphics, such as the Hud.

*Modify, View & Extract rom Palettes.

*Convert all above to and from .PNG files

*Modify, View & Extract sounds (partially as of 0.1-0.2 Beta).

 

It doesn't modify anything major like maps, music or proper GBA sprites (like the guns under the hud) or anything fancy like that, since I don't know how those file formats work at all.

Here's an old video I did when the Tools were in their early stages where I briefly show some customization:

 

You can make some simple mods for it, so here's another old example where I replaced the Icon Of Sin with Mark Z u c c erburg

 

But the games content file structure in the Rom is a big complicated mess full of different algorithms etc.

If you want to read all about it on how it works and perhaps make your own tools or something, there's a Documentation.txt that explains it all in full detail inside the modding tools package.

 

Anyway by using these tools I was able to make a separate uncensor patch, it replaces the PLAYPAL equivalent to the original PC wads palette, all the sprites, textures, and flats were resized and adjusted to fit with the GBA's version. The colormap works a lot differently in this port so I couldn't make it 100% the same as the MS-DOS original but still looks pretty good imo!

In a nutshell, all this results in basically everything in the game being uncensored! (With the exception of disappearing bodies, and hanging body sprites as they weren't there in the first place)

Here's some comparisons! The left side being the original release and the right side being the modded version:

 

I've also got a video that shows the comparison on the fly so if you want to see that it's here:

 

Anyway I hope you all will find some uses out of these, I'm currently hosting the tools and PC Conversion Patch on my own site.

Therefore you can get the Modding Tools themselves here:

https://kippykip.com/index.php?threads/gba-doom-ii-modding-tools-0-2-beta.433/

And the Conversion patch here:

https://kippykip.com/index.php?threads/gba-doom-ii-pc-conversion-pack-revision-1-3.434/

 

Hope you have some fun with these lads ;)

 

P.S. Admins, the capacha on the registration is broken, even when you check the recapacha box and is done, I get this:

You did not pass the security check. Please try again.

So I had to register with Google.

[Quasar]

Very nice, been hoping for a long time that someone might make inroads into the resource formats for this particular port.

[Linguica]

2 hours ago, Kippykip said:

P.S. Admins, the capacha on the registration is broken, even when you check the recapacha box and is done, I get this:

You did not pass the security check. Please try again.

oh ffs now what

[Kippykip]

11 minutes ago, Linguica said:

oh ffs now what

UHHHHH CAPACHA MACHINE BROKE

[riderr3]

Good old pixel galore.

[konamikode]

is there any rom-to-gba cartridge sorta thing out there, because I would love to play some of this on the go

[Tompig]

I'm probably showing my ignorance but how would one go about patching a gba cartridge? 

[Kippykip]

4 hours ago, Tompig said:

I'm probably showing my ignorance but how would one go about patching a gba cartridge? 

Unfortunately there's no way to patch a cartridge itself (ROM = Read Only Memory). Unless you can desolder and happen to have a rom chip writer laying around you could probably modify the original cartridge itself.

However you can use a GBA flashcart to load the uncensored one on a real GBA/NDS, I play the patched rom via the "EZ Flash IV MicroSD" device.

 

Also just in case you're unaware what a flashcart is, it's a unofficial cartridge you can buy with a sd slot where you can stick a load of roms on the SD and then use the flashcart to load them into the device (in our case the GBA).

[Reisal]

You should see if you can get these tools onto the /idgames/ archives if possible.

[Kippykip]

6 hours ago, Glaice said:

You should see if you can get these tools onto the /idgames/ archives if possible.

Not a bad idea, who would I ask here to go about doing that?

14 hours ago, konamikode said:

is there any rom-to-gba cartridge sorta thing out there, because I would love to play some of this on the go

You can get a flashcart, where you can copy roms to an SD and stick it in the cartridge and load it that way, as that's how I play it with the "EZ Flash IV MicroSD". 

Oh yeah one thing I forgot to mention is that I made the Gamma palettes have colour correction so the lowest setting is the PC palette, which is good for a backlit SP/NDS, and the highest setting is colour corrected to fit with a original non-lit screen. I find the middle setting looks good on a frontlit SP.

 

[RUSH]

Pretty awesome. This is what the GBA port should have always looked like. Red blood, darker tint, uncensored wolf levels and all.

[riderr3]

2 hours ago, Kippykip said:

Not a bad idea, who would I ask here to go about doing that?

 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?textmaker

[Reisal]

9 hours ago, Kippykip said:

Not a bad idea, who would I ask here to go about doing that?

 

Check the WADs & Mods subforum.

[Quasar]

Do you happen to know where the data for the levels is stored in the ROM? Their format is something I have an interest in trying to figure out.

[VGamingJunkie]

Come to think of it, maybe they made the colors exaggerated and vibrant to be easier to see on the GBA's screen since backlit lcd wasn't standard yet?

[Da Werecat]

Most likely.

 

GBA games typically use acid colors. Some emulators can dull them back down, but this feature seems to be rare for some reason. Many games look like shit without it.

[Memfis]

Lol, the original had green blood? That's just adorable.

[Spie812]

7 hours ago, Quasar said:

 

Do you happen to know where the data for the levels is stored in the ROM?

 

Using a hex editor, the only area where the level names show up is around (hex) DBB000.

I'd look around there to start.

[Kippykip]

15 hours ago, Quasar said:

Do you happen to know where the data for the levels is stored in the ROM? Their format is something I have an interest in trying to figure out.

No unfortunately, but I've been trying but with no luck.

 

8 hours ago, Spie812 said:

Using a hex editor, the only area where the level names show up is around (hex) DBB000.

I'd look around there to start.

I believe that entire section is where all the text messages are stored in the game

[Kippykip]

UPDATE: I was able to completely corrupt the behaviour of certain enemies!

At around offset 2EB500 you find certain names of sprites.

I found TROO underneath somewhere (Imp) and messed completely with the values above the "TROO" part. Now I have an unshootable imp with the spectre effect that doesn't move which seem to be shooting invisible archvile heat-blasts?

14 hours ago, Da Werecat said:

Most likely.

 

GBA games typically use acid colors. Some emulators can dull them back down, but this feature seems to be rare for some reason. Many games look like shit without it.

I believe that was the reason, but I've added colour correction to the later Gamma settings which make it similar to how the rom was released, however still looks more accurate to the PC palette on an original GBA model so I have no idea.

Edited April 2, 2017 by Kippykip

[Spie812]

I would really love to see a ROM memory map of this game along the lines of what they did to Super Mario 64.

 

I've been using a corrupter to try to find where the map data is, and although I've screwed up the renderer plenty, I haven't actually been able to change level geometry.

[Kippykip]

13 hours ago, Spie812 said:

I would really love to see a ROM memory map of this game along the lines of what they did to Super Mario 64.

 

I've been using a corrupter to try to find where the map data is, and although I've screwed up the renderer plenty, I haven't actually been able to change level geometry.

I've only been able to move "THINGS" around with the corrupter like the teleporter.