Hacking for VGMs

[nensondubois]

Debuggers, tracers and codes used to access unused music for ripping into VGMs. Requesting a sticky for this... or not since the VGM ripping tutorial covers basic elements of Sega Genesis hacking. Here is a small list of powerful (and only?) Sega Genesis debuggers/Tracers/Tools for hacking games for VGM ripping.

Debuggers:
Geiger/FCUEUXDSP style debugger
http://aamirm.hacking-cult.org/www/regen.html

MAME style debugger
HazeMD
http://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/

Tracers:
Gens Tracer:
http://www.romhacking.net/utils/337/

[Koto]

Could be possible any "hacking vgm for dummies" guide? ...

See ya

[andlabs]

Not sure, but I will say this: I've hacked Ya Se Chuan Shuo to rip the songs already (though what ValleyBell said in another thread will mean I have to look a bit further), and now that Sansan has been dumped I'm working on hacking a sound test into that too. In both cases I use IDA to disassemble the game and then analyze the code to see what I can do -- with Ya Se I just stopped the game after the first song plays; with Sansan I might be able to outright replace one of the entries in the options menu with a sound test option (I found the function that option calls to open its menu and several text functions — all text in the game is Shift-JIS...)

[nensondubois]

Could be possible any "hacking vgm for dummies" guide? ...

See ya

Tools... tools... for hacking.

[Dark Pulse]

Topic stickied.

[codeman38]

I already mentioned this in an aside over on the "various fixes for various archives" thread, but the sound test code for Yase Chuan Shuo might be useful for various other Taiwanese unlicensed/bootleg games as well. The sound engine in Yase Chuan Shuo is quite obviously hacked from High Seas Havoc, and a bunch of other bootlegs use the same sound engine, including Shui Hu Feng Yun Zhuan (which needs a better rip), Pocket Monster, and Mulan.

Edit: Other games on the unripped list that use this same sound engine include Fengshen Yingjiechuan, Hercules, Mortal Combat 5, Romance of the Three Kingdoms Part 5, and Tiger Hunter Hero Novel (a.k.a. Shui Hu Zhuan, not to be confused with the other Shui Hu game mentioned above).

[andlabs]

I'll keep those in mind, thanks. I did disassemble High Seas Havoc for the hell of it, but I don't see how it fixes that one-frame problem, if it even does. I might be able to get around it by waiting a frame before writing the sound variables, but eh... (These games using High Seas Havoc's sound driver is already very well known, though I wonder how they figured out how it works so quickly...?)

Anyway I tried putting my sound test code in Ya Se Chuan Shuo, but I can't get it to do anything because it does some weird controller manipulation :| I did get it in Sansan and since there are only four songs (two music tracks and two jingles, only one of which is looping) I could have it ready by the end of the week. Until then, could someone translate the Sansan composer's name? 井関 健二

[codeman38]

(These games using High Seas Havoc's sound driver is already very well known, though I wonder how they figured out how it works so quickly...?)

Heh, yeah... I know that GDRI had mentioned the High Seas Havoc thing on their sound driver list, but I still think it's hilarious how they literally ripped off one of the tunes with only minor changes.

And yeah, I'd also wondered about how they managed to reverse-engineer it so quickly. All I can gather is that Hanmin Liao is like some sort of Chuck Norris of sound engine reverse-engineering-- all the games he's credited on, across various systems, use someone else's sound driver, and all of them sound good. Heck, he's worked with three different Mega Drive sound engines (Shi-Kin-Joh and Wonder Boy III are the other two).

[ValleyBell]

I need a little help with hacking Xin Qi Gai Wang Zi (also known as Beggar Prince).

I already found the music driver at 11C0 in 68k RAM and my problem is, that I'm unable to find a music trigger (if there is any).
I also found the music pointers in the ROM, but it's annoying to reopen the ROM everytime I want to rip a new track. (and I'd need to find the tune that currently plays)

Can anyone help me?
The music engine doesn't sound like the High Seas Havoc one (no vibrato anywhere and no slowdowns when songs are started), but it uses the DAC.

EDIT: OK, got help from andlabs.

[Winged Cat]

I need help.
For example, I want to record music from Bike Race stage from "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (SMD), but there are a lot of SFX sounds (shots, etc.)
How can I remove them?