Screeen resolution hacks

[paul_met]

Lately I've been doing hacks to increase the screen resolution in games for Saturn. Here is one of the successful examples.
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This hack increases the screen resolution up to 352x256 (v1.3) + fixes some bugs of the original game!!!
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(Original page: www.emu-land.net/forum/index.php/topic,73835.msg1165160.html)
Changes log:

Version 1.3:
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- The horizontal alignment of the screen in rooms "B2F 1-2".
- The horizontal alignment of menu items (option screen, save/load screen, ranking screen).
- Change the color of some menu items (option screen, save/load screen, ranking screen).
- The semi-transparent menu background is now limited to a transparent frame around the edges of the screen (instead of the full fill the screen).
- Unlock hidden option items (difficulty selection and view rating).
- Completely removed PAL screen optimization (intended for conversion PAL to NTSC version of the game).

Version 1.2:
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- Adjusted some coordinates (counter charges of magic, eye, background of HP bar).
- Corrected the coordinates of flames at the entrance of the room "B1F 4-3" in order to the hero could not get around flames left or right.
- Corrected the coordinates of the flames on the stairs out of the room "B1F 3-3" in order to the hero could not freely get around bonfires.
- Adjusted coordinates of plant as a spring in water of the room "B1F 2-3" in order to the hero could not jump over the platform.
- Adjusted coordinates vases and fountain on the platform in the upper left corner of the room "B1F 1-4" in order to the hero could not jump on it with the adjacent platform to the right.
- Corrected the coordinates of one of the flames on the platform at the bottom right corner of the room "B2F 4-1" in order to the hero could not jump on top of the flame.
- Corrected the coordinates of one of the flames near a large frozen fountain in the room "B3F 4-1", in order to the hero was not able to jump between the two flames.

Version 1.1:
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- Alignment of the menus, the status bar of the hero, the dialogue with the text, the title screens, cinematics.

Version 1.0:
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- Global change screen resolution to 352x256 (the original 320x256)
- Correction of the visible area for sprites (In order not to disappear after 320 pixels)
- Global correction of horizontal scrolling screen (In order to location is not repeated when the hero reaches the rightmost edge of it)
- Global horizontal alignment of the screen (In order to the hero was not shifted to the left)
- The horizontal alignment of the screen in rooms with the small size (in 4 rooms in different corners of the screen)

Installing the patch:

- Attention! This hack is designed exclusively for the European version of the game (PAL). But you can convert PAL to NTSC version with a patch in the folder "PAL-to-NTSC". However, you need to change region of your PAL iso by self.
- Open the original image of the game (PAL region) in the "CDMage" (attached).
- Insert all the file with extetion "BIN" and "LOW" in root directory to the image through "CDMage" (select the file in the list and by the right-clicking select item "Import file").

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Some screenshots:



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Link:
http://rghost.ru/download/7pH6GplXL/58c08fc5172c89fe8262b446481e8b33fbf07db3/Patch v1.3 (ENG).zip

 

[luisoft]

This is awessome! Hey , its possible hack the resolution of games like Resident Evil and tomb raider? You need only change the vdp1 resolution to 320 x 224 to 640 x 224

 

[paul_met]

For Resident Evil just will not work to increase the resolution. There are background images only 320x240. But for Tomb Raider maybe is possible. I have not tried.

 

[luisoft]

Yes i know the RE use low res on background but the main idea in this case is see how VDP1 will run a game like RE using high resolution see if the framerate will be nice or not. RE is a low poly game maybe can run with a nice framerate on 640x224 or 512x224.

 

[paul_met]

Saturn does not support 512 pixels for horizon resolution.
It is useless. Here is how looks the image in resolution of 640x240 (single- and double-interlaces):

 

[luisoft]

NICE!!!!!!! Hey and the framerate? Slowdowns the game or same speed? Can you create a manual how to do this vdps hacks? I want to try it too 😀. Tnx for the tests

 

[paul_met]

It is necessary to set a breakpoint on a memory write to address "0x5F80000" and look for the address where the value is written in charge of screen resolution. But before that, I advise you to check out the chapter "TV screen mode register" in manual of VDP2.

 

[paul_met]

Removing the black borders + increasing game resolution up to 352x240:
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Shining Force III (S1)

 

[luisoft]

Good work! Try put Tomb Raider running at 640x240.

 

[vbt]

nice ! what's the result in the battle screens of sf3 ?

 

[paul_met]

Good work! Try put Tomb Raider running at 640x240.

What is special in version of the game for Saturn? In my opinion, a version for PS1 and PC will be better.

nice ! what's the result in the battle screens of sf3 ?

The result is the same as in the normal mode. I still want to try to remove the huge black borders on the battle screen. While there may be no background behind them.

 

[paul_met]

Well, still under the black stripes has image. Here is the battle mode:

 

[paul_met]

Experimental true Hi-res mode (only on emulator with GPU support):

 

[luisoft]

Wow! Look really nice! You use the same resolution of Virtua Fighter 2 ? Its possible run on true hardware this hi-res game?

 

[paul_met]

Wow! Look really nice! You use the same resolution of Virtua Fighter 2 ? Its possible run on true hardware this hi-res game?

Hi-res mode 704x480i. May be it is possible to run this hack on real hardware. But needs to fix all colors, because in soft mode you can see wrong palette.

 

[vbt]

maybe there are palettes limitations for 704x480 like 8 bits pal max

 

[luisoft]

Looking Dead or Alive on yabuse the game run at 704x240 maybe using this resolution can fix the bug pallete in SFIII

 

[paul_met]

maybe there are palettes limitations for 704x480 like 8 bits pal max

It looks like it. But I do not know yet how to convert a 16-bit color to 8-bit color or which specifies the bit depth of color.

 

[paul_met]

Story of Thor 2 news.
Alignment of the:

• Menu items
• Status bar of the hero
• Dialogue with the text
• Title screens
• Cinematics

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I have updated information and a link to the patch in the first post.

 

[paul_met]

Norse by Norsewest (Lost Vikings 2) - resolution 352x240.
The characters panel had to move down due to the fact that under it was constantly flickering garbage. In SSF hack does not work, alas.