Tutorial: Modding ROMs in Castlevania Advance Collection

[calm palm]

Video tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azQY-fIwizY

The Castlevania Advance Collection uses a proprietary emulator with compressed ROMs. You can patch these ROMs with existing patches since they are very similar to the originals. The original ROM(s) must be replaced, and all game files recompressed and repackaged.

You must download the MArchiveBatchTool utility. The release version can be found here: https://github.com/farmerbb/RED-Project/wiki/Castlevania-Anniversary-Collection

0. As it says in the link above, install .NET Core from Microsoft and download the MArchiveBatchTool. Extract the utility archive.

1. To make things simpler, put the "MArchiveBatchTool-win-x64" folder in the root C: drive.

2. Create a folder called "game" in the "MArchiveBatchTool-win-x64" folder. You will extract the game files here in a later step.

3. Create another folder called "build" in the "MArchiveBatchTool-win-x64" folder. You will recompile the game files here in a later step.

4. Copy the following files from the "windata" folder in your Castlevania Advance Collection game folder into the "game" folder in the "MArchiveBatchTool" folder that you created.
- alldata.bin
- alldata.psb.m

5. Open Command Prompt and change directory to the MArchiveBatchTool folder. If you moved the folder to C:, you can run the following command to change to the folder:
cd C:\MArchiveBatchTool-win-x64

6. Run the following command to extract the game files into the "game" folder you created:
MArchiveBatchTool.exe fullunpack --keep game\alldata.psb.m zlib 25G/xpvTbsb+6 64

7. Leave your Command Prompt window open but go to C:\MArchiveBatchTool-win-x64\game\alldata.psb.m_extracted\system\roms\.

8. Choose the ROM you wish to modify. You may want to move it to a different folder first depending on what you want to do with it.

9. Make your modifications. You may be using an IPS patch or a program designed to patch the file. Make note of the output. If the program creates a new ROM, rename this new ROM to the original name (including the .bin extension) that it was called in the extracted game files (e.g., for Circle of the Moon US version, it should be "01_Circle_US.patch_210614m.bin".

10. Copy the modified ROM to C:\MArchiveBatchTool-win-x64\game\alldata.psb.m_extracted\system\roms\ and overwrite the original. If you are not prompted to overwrite, you have named the file incorrectly.

11. Recompress the game files with the following command:
MArchiveBatchTool.exe m pack game/alldata.psb.m_extracted zlib 25G/xpvTbsb+6 64

12. Build a new archive with the following command to output a .bin and .psb.m to the "build" folder you created earlier:
MArchiveBatchTool.exe archive build --codec zlib --seed 25G/xpvTbsb+6 --keyLength 64 game/alldata.psb.m_extracted/ build/alldata

13. Copy the following files from C:\MArchiveBatchTool-win-x64\build to your Castlevania Advance Collection "windata" folder and overwrite the original files:
- alldata.bin
- alldata.psb.m

14. The game should load normally when you start it, but with your custom ROM instead of the ROM you replaced. If it is a black screen that never loads, a mistake was made.

Credit to the author of the MArchiveBatchTool utility: https://gitlab.com/modmyclassic/sega-mega-drive-mini/marchive-batch-tool/-/tree/master/MArchiveBatchTool
Credit to farmerbb, author of this article: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1018020/discussions/0/1629665087674849653/
Emotional support: Circle of the Moon Speedrunning Discord @ https://discord.gg/Ae7Qjd5xDu

[GuyInDogSuit]

Look, I'm not the guy who coded the patches for the INT and LCK, I'm just going by what I know from playing the game on a GBA SP back in the day vs playing it on an emulator years later with said hacks. I saw an improvement with both, so it's safe to assume that I'm not the only one who felt it was underwhelming.

[davidb11]

Alright. Fair enough.
I just had never heard of that problem until now.
IT's a bit strange.

But at the same time, it wouldn't surprise me.
Sorry if I came across as rude.

[Zeikar]

This is damn cool

[Sirbagsalot]

For those looking for a way to auto dash this was just uploaded to RHDN from some of the randomizer devs. (Devanj and Fusecv) https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6230/

[Tsuki Zero]

Escrito originalmente por the_randomizer1889:

Escrito originalmente por Tsukiyomaru Zero:

Not keeping true to source would be a greater mistake.

It looks like hot garbage on big displays. Fact.

Yes, like Super Mario Bros that was RE-RELEASED MULTIPLE TIMES WITH THE SAME ISSUES.

Really, neither of these games, except for Dracula X, needs any patch to be fun.

As for patches, the only ones I recommend are:
CotM: Card Mode
Places the card in fixed points through the game according to a more logical progression.

HoD: Castlevania HoD Definitive Edition
Numerous visual improvements.

AoS: Localization Fix
Because Lubicant sounds really wrong....

[GuyInDogSuit]

Escrito originalmente por davidb11:

Alright. Fair enough.
I just had never heard of that problem until now.
IT's a bit strange.

But at the same time, it wouldn't surprise me.
Sorry if I came across as rude.

No worries, all good.

Escrito originalmente por Sirbagsalot:

For those looking for a way to auto dash this was just uploaded to RHDN from some of the randomizer devs. (Devanj and Fusecv) https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6230/

Nice, time to listen to "Running in the 90s" or "Deja Vu!" on repeat.

[Peking Duckman]

Can I download saves for the original GBA versions into this one as well?

[GuyInDogSuit]

Escrito originalmente por Peking Duckman:

Can I download saves for the original GBA versions into this one as well?

If we could even figure out where the saves are stored, maybe. I found some in the "remote" folder (cloud saves location) but they're in a bin format in varying sizes. Not sure which ones do what.

[Leilas_Dad]

Hi calm palm. I was wondering if you knew of a way to be able to extract/repack the various image (pictures and art) files that are a part of the Castlevania Collection and Castlevania Advance Collection?

[calm palm]

Those assets must also be in the archive. One would have to hunt them down and find out what format they're in.

[Leilas_Dad]

Alas, when I checked I see some folders with the word image in there, but all the files inside have no extension, and have stream in the name.

It’d be cool to be able to edit the images to go along with various potential rom hacks.

[Gamer101_123]

Hi,
So I'm trying to get the images from the Gallery inside the game, and I got extraction to work for me, now I have .PSB files. Does anyone here have any experience of converting them to .pngs?

[GuyInDogSuit]

No clue. You could try GARBro, I guess.

[Caswagna]

Does anyone know if the ROMs can be extracted and relabeled as .GBA files?

[Zeikar]

Escrito originalmente por Caswagna:

Does anyone know if the ROMs can be extracted and relabeled as .GBA files?

Look at the main post. Look at steps 7 and 9. Step 7 mentions the extracted ROMs directory. The .bin file mentioned in step 9 should be able to be renamed as .gba extension and used. I just tried it and it worked. The answer is literally already in the post if you know how to read.