Uber Mario 64

Extra Files:

ReadMe.txt

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UBER MARIO 64 Demo,___________________ >>>>>>>>>> by ArchangelGabriel
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1. Introduction
2. Setup/Requirements/Recommandations
3. Level/Star Ratings
4. Known imperfections/"bugs"
5. Authorship/Thanks
6. Your opinion matters ( for real )


1. Introduction
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UBER MARIO 64 is my very first hack and the ROM this file is associated
with is a 16 stars demo.  The basic idea behind it was, among the concepts
I thought of before getting into hacking this game, to exploit differently
the EXACT same geometry as the official version of the game in order to
build something basically just as neat and polished, but much harder
and designed for much more experienced and savvy SM64 players.

The result turned out to be great ( at least for the two first big levels
and the "secret" slide ) and now, althought I'm kind of full-time busy
with an university project, I can assure you that my interest in achieving
this hack haven't dropped the slightest.

So, in summary, Bob-Omb Battlefield is still Bob-Omb Battlefield, Whomp's
Fortress is still Whomp's Fortress, ( although the last one have undergone
serious renovation ;). And all of it was basically done with the notes
of people cited at the end, an hex editor, and obviously Toad's Tool 64.
No level importer was used, since my challenge is to make the best hack
out of the existing geometry.


2. Setup/Requirements/Recommandations
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PPF File:
For the newbies, a ppf ( Playstation Patch File ) is the standard for posting
hacks online mainly because sharing such a hack based on a commercial ROM
is illegal.

a) So, you need to procure yourself the Super Mario 64 official
US version ( NTSC ) of the ROM online, ( I would give you a direct link
to this ROM online but this is also illegal, but don't worry, Google can
find it for you very easily. )

b) Then you need to extend it with the software M64ROMExtender by VL-Tone
which can be found at "http://qubedstudios.rustedlogic.net/Mario64Tools.htm"
for both windows and MAC platform ( it have its own ReadMe to tell you how ).

c) Then once you've extended it, you should have a ROM of exactly 24MB
on which you will need to patch the ppf file I gave you.  To perform that,
you will need something like the software ppf-o-matic3 which can also be
found online very easily via search engines, then it will too have its
own ReadMe where "ISO File" stands for the extended ROM and "Patch" stands
for the ".ppf" file I gave you.

d) Once patched, the extended ROM becomes my actual hack and can be played
with basically every Nintendo 64 emulator that supports Super Mario 64
and Memory Pak, BUT I strongly recommend using either the latest version
of "Project 64" or "1964 UltraFast v3" because both can also overclock
the emulated MIPS processor and are quite stable:

Project 64: http://www.pj64-emu.com/downloads/project64/binaries/

1964 UltraFast v3: http://www.retrocopy.com/downloads/1964_ultrafast_v3.zip

e) The last step before playing implies configuring the emulator you have
chosen and its ideal configuration will obviously depend on the computer
on which you are running it.  But there is one last thing that is essential
in order to play my hack and that is to adjust the memory size to 8MB.
With both emulators, you need to first load the ROM of my hack, then edit
the ROM properties:
For Project 64: go to "Options->Settings", on the left of the window, select
"Config: UBER MARIO 64" and finally, change the "Memory Size" to 8 MB.
For 1964 UltraFast v3: go to "Edit->ROM Properties" and then select "Yes"
at "Expansion Pak".


3. Level/Star Ratings
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I first intended to invent all sorts of scales but I think we can just
stick to this one :
Difficulty rating is an estimation of the time it might take for someone
experienced in SM64 who is playing my hack for the first time regardless
of whether is takes a long time to get the star because it requires
almost perfect skills, going through a lot of lethal obstacles
("unforgivingness"), require a lot of intelligence and think and somehow,
the right solution haven't crossed the mind of the player or simply because
the star is very well hidden.  THE NUMBER ONLY ADDRESSES THE TIME IT MIGHT
TAKE. And aside is the predominant kind of difficulty mostly responsible
for making this time long:

"Lethality/Unforgivingness" = L
Description: Not just time lost because of death but also implies having to start all
over again for ANY other reason ( like breaking a cube you should haven't,
or lost too many coins to get the 100 coins star. )

"Raw Skills/Precision requirement" = P
Description: Basically what practice provides you.

"hard to figure out/Intelligence and Knowledge requirement" = I
Description: Everything you know including glitches goes in that category along with
your IQ; this is the one I want to maximize.

"hard to find/Searching methods requirement" = S
Description: Also pretty clear, it's basically the difficulty you'll have
in finding something hidden.


And to put the difficulty ratings from 1 to 10 in perspective, it's sort
of a logarithmic scale where "1" equals the difficulty of getting the Big
Bob-Omb star in the official release of the game, "3" would be beating
the last Bowser and "10" would be CRAZY FUCKING INSANE like the red coins
star of Toxic Terrace in SM74 EXTREME EDITION, ( Damnit! Lugmillord, no
sane human being would post online something like that! )
The sweet spot for me is in the range like between 5 to 8.5 where 5 is
the tipping point where an experienced user ( not no-life ) would most
likely NOT succeed the first try.


Level 1: Bob-Omb Battlefield
Average difficulty Level ~= 6 ( L ~= 5%, P ~= 39%, I ~= 32%, S ~= 24% )
Comments: Like there could be anything really lethal in BOB, LOL.

Act 1-1: Difficulty ~= 5.75 ( L ~= 8%, P ~= 76%, I ~= 16%, S ~= 0% )
Comments: There is nothing to search for, King Bob-Omb just got serious.

Act 1-2: Difficulty ~= 6 ( L ~= 50%, P ~= 35%, I ~= 15%, S ~= 0% )
Comments: Remember, "L" means having to start all over because of a mistake.

Act 1-3: Difficulty ~= 6.25 ( L ~= 1%, P ~= 11%, I ~= 8%, S ~= 80% )
Comments: High "S" basically means its hidden, but it's hard to rate correctly
when you already know the answer...

Act 1-4: Difficulty ~= 6.75 ( L ~= 1%, P ~= 40%, I ~= 39%, S ~= 20% )
Comments: Red coins, different ratings for different conditions.

Act 1-5: Difficulty ~= 6.75 ( L ~= 1%, P ~= 65%, I ~= 25%, S ~= 9% )
Comments: Perseverance and patience are the keys.

Act 1-6: Difficulty ~= 3 ( L ~= 5%, P ~= 25%, I ~= 70%, S ~= 0% )
Comments: The easiest one I might ever do.

Act 1-7: Difficulty ~= 6.75 ( L ~= 15%, P ~= 50%, I ~= 25%, S ~= 10% )
Comments: ( Reminder; The 7th act is the 100 coin star ) This level has
120 coins where only 117 coins are reachable but it is very possible to
get all of these coins ( not lose any of them ).


Level 2: Whomp's Fortress
Average difficulty Level ~= 8 ( L ~= 15%, P ~= 25%, I ~= 35%, S ~= 25% )
Comments: This one is pretty hardcore and the one i'm the most proud of.
It's also pretty hard to rate, all the types of difficulty are pretty high!

Act 2-1: Difficulty ~= 7 ( L ~= 50%, P ~= 35%, I ~= 15%, S ~= 0% )
Comments: 

Act 2-2: Difficulty ~= 8 ( L ~= 4%, P ~= 36%, I ~= 60%, S ~= 0% )
Comments: 

Act 2-3: Difficulty ~= 8.25 ( L ~= 2%, P ~= 25%, I ~= 48%, S ~= 25% )
Comments: 

Act 2-4: Difficulty ~= 8.5 ( L ~= 18%, P ~= 14%, I ~= 36%, S ~= 32% )
Comments: 

Act 2-5: Difficulty ~= 9 ( L ~= 25%, P ~= 10%, I ~= 25%, S ~= 40% )
Comments: You're going to hate me a little while for this one, but please
note that by opposition to SM74 EXTREME EDITION, the "P" and "L" contributions
are fairly low so it shouldn't be as annoying as a "regular" level 9 star.
Basically, once you know, it's definitely not as hard.

Act 2-6: Difficulty ~= 5.5 ( L ~= 4%, P ~= 4%, I ~= 72%, S ~= 20% )
Comments: Again, hard to rate when you know the answer.

Act 2-7: Difficulty ~= 8.75 ( L ~= 36%, P ~= 28%, I ~= 28%, S~= 8% )
Comments: This level have a total of 133 coins, all possible individually,
but there isn't really a humanly possible way to get all 133 of them without
the use of savestates ( which is somewhat cheating ). Basically, a few
of these coins are almost meant to be lost.


Secret Level 1: Princess' Secret Slide
Difficulty Level ~= 6.25 ( L ~= 15%, P ~= 25%, I ~= 30%, S ~= 30% )
Comments: Both stars are pretty much of the same level of difficulty...
I'll let you discover what kind of difficulty it is.


4. Known imperfections/"bugs"
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This section is about the few little things that I couldn't solve because
of emulator bullsh** or SM64 engine bullsh**... all kinds of bullsh**.

1. VERY RARELY, stupid Koopa The Quick might fall through the floor, and
you might have to start your race all over against him. This is rather
common among SM64 hacks, but in my case, it happened only twice among the
hundreds of times I've raced against him. I've tried solving this problem
but with all the trouble in the world I had in changing his trajectory
and how just the slightest change in trajectory might make him stuck at
some place during the race, I rather not try too much to solve this ( since
it's also very common. )

2. Slight texture imperfections that apears only when my hack is running
with them, not in any image editor which is very annoying. But it's hardly
noticeable to someone who doesn't know it's there, so I'd rather not mention
which one. It's absolutely harmless, ok?


5. Authorship/Thanks
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All of this have been accomplished by me, ArchangelGabriel, with the help
of the tools listed in the introduction, so thanks to:

VL-Tone for Mario 64 ROM Extender, Toad's Tool 64, Text Wrangler and many
of his hacking notes.

James Stuart/Yoshiman/Yoshielectron for a gameshark code ( even if its
just one, it helped me save time. )

KazeBG0/Kazeshin/Kaze Emanuar for the only useful responses I got when
posting on the help thread of www.smwcentral.net. Over 90% of the questions
I asked there were left unanswered and/or I figured out by myself before
getting an answer.

messiaen/frauber for his/her notes on SM64 hacking ( and chksum64.exe )

anarko and his document about N64 opcodes, ( very useful, and available
there: http://bin.smwcentral.net/u/22622/N64ops03.txt ).

There could be someone else worth mentioning, but I can't remember right
now...


6. Your opinion matters ( for real )
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Contact me for questions or opinions on this preferably by PM on smwcentral.net
and the only reason your PM could be ignored is if it reeks trolling or
is riddled with unjustified hate. ( Can be sumed up in "everyone but trolls
and haters". )

GOOD GAME!