Rez Hacking

Reading through this has been fascinating, as Rez one of my all-time favorite games. Thank you for sharing your progress.

 

Wow, it is 2014 already!

Excuse me for my lame English btw.

This is really fascinating anyway, and now i really get interest in hacking the game, but since i only had my PS2 so i stick with the PS2 then

So, yeah, uh, what i found so far, it is pretty obvious, sounds are using ADX samples, so i extracted with PSound.

The game size is only 191MB on PS2 version, after i extracted samples, it took over 794MB, probably it is because the decompressor since PSound did convert sounds to it uncompressed WAV format.

There are sounds which i never heard in-game, it is some kind of sound effect. Unfortunately, the rest of the stream is corrupted, so i can only heard 2 mins of it until it scrapped into chaos.



Also, i found leftover samples from Space Channel 5 or SC5: Part 2.

That's all i got for the PS2 version.

Still looking for any Debug mode.

P/S: I have no idea where the MIDI file contained.

 

I know that the PS2 version has one of the missing test modules from the Dreamcast version, Wire.bin. I know nothing about rebuilding .cvm files though, so unfortunately I can't replace any files to access it.
Some of the sounds when extracted had glitchy sections at the end of them, seems to just be an error in the detection and extraction of them by PSound. I'm assuming you didn't extract all the files the .cvm file? If you do you can view the folders and files. Midi data is in the two music folders.
I don't have any easy way of trying to access the debug mode in that version if it exists unfortunately.

 

So currently what we know so far is: .CVM can be extracted, but can't be packed once again. Wire.bin is missing from the PS2 version.

There must be a way to pack them back to .CVM .

And about last night, i was hooked up my USB Keyboard and my USB mouse to my PS2 while running the game. The result is: NumLock keep blinking, i don't know if my USB Keyboard was malfunctioning or the game did.

I will retry tonight.

EDIT: My keyboard was malfunctioned, so i replaced with my old USB Keyboard which still working fine, and nothing happened. So, the only possible reason i could think of is maybe the Debug Mode only working on the Debugging Station ? or we just need figure it out how to add Wire.bin to see how it work.

My current game build: v0.10 1038 2001/10/04 16:33

 

Oh, and i forgot to mention that, if you extract the PS2 version samples, begin from "REZ_00360" to "REZ_00367" are samples from Space Channel 5: Part 2.

 

No no, I mean that Wire.bin is in the PS2 version and not the Dreamcast one.

If the PS2 is like the Dreamcast one in any way, then the debug menu probably won't respond to the keyboard or mouse even if it detects them. I had to change a value in memory to enable the debug menu. I'm not sure how to get the game to enable it by default like in the beta, but it works at least.

The Space Channel 5 samples are used for the bonus character, the Morolian.

 

Ah, my mistake xD

The Debug Menu from the PS2 may different from the Dreamcast and maybe the Debug Menu was running in Qindows but not in the PS2 version ? And yet, i found out that the Keyboard driver for PS2 version is currently MIA.

Or the game does really need a Test PS2 or PS2 DevKit instead to access ?

 

I had this idea several years ago. Rez is an amazing experience. Im into music production like to Richard D James (aphex twin)for the last ten years. I wish I got more up to date on my programming as I would love to redo every sound and music on the REZ dreamcast iso. If you are ever needing help with replacing the music and sound effects but dont want to work on the new music production end send me a PM one day. The programming and transition of music in the levels in something very magical and original in gaming. Electronic music production is very mathematical sometimes and teaming that with game programming is what makes REZ such a unique amazing experience for me.

Edit: THANK YOU for working on this idea. i TRULY support this!! Keep up the good work as I know SO many REZ and dreamcast fans would love to eventually see the fruit of your idea!

 

Okay, so i found out that we can rebuild that .cvm with Apache3 PS2 Tool, but it isn't actually rebuild but just a file swap in the archive. I did renamed the "Wire.bin" to swap file and enabled "Ignore size difference" mode, but my Apache3 keep crashing everytime i swap file, have any idea ?

 

If you're talking about using the Apache that's used in the FMCB exploit then you probably should do this (replacing the files/filenames): http://bootleg.sksapps.com/tutorials/fmcb/swap.php

I'm guessing it would be something like this:

1. Use Apache to open the .iso image u made.
2. highlight "Wire.bin" in apache on your right side
3. select "ISO Tools" from the tab above, now select "Change TOC for Selected File", change the "Size (dec)" to 915196, don't change the LBA. This is the file size of the "Wire.bin". (if your using a different Wire.bin file, right click the file on your pc and select properties, the first "Size" is the size in bytes. This is the size you need to use in Apache)
4. with "Wire.bin" still highlighted, select "ISO Tools" again, now select "Update Selected File", select the Wire.bin file that was Wire.bin's "Wire.bin" you rename, it will say "selected file replaced".
5. Burn the edited ISO to disc with DVD Decrypter / IMGBurn

Lol that's mighty confusing, but hopefully you get the idea.

 

Yeah, it is a little bit confusing lol, but i'll find it out, thanks

 

Found a new unused enemy in the Venus boss battle.





I didn't realize these were enemies at first, they can be created along the path the player is forced to follow in this battle. You can shoot them but they do not die. They just roll away. They are referred to as 'Ball'.

In the beta there is an unused attack for Uranus where it drops static mines. This does not exist in the final.



These are referred to as 'Bullet'. They do nothing once spawned, and they are always spawned in clusters like with the missiles. They can be destroyed in one shot.

 

That's neat!

 

The ball enemy exists in the beta too. You need to have the boss debug mode (KODE) enabled, then press Alt+C while in the central area of the Venus battle and they will spawn below you. They seem to be one of the only things in the game to actually react against surfaces... (With the exception of some projectiles of course)

 

Debug still exists in the PS2 port (I know this is the Dreamcast section, don't think it's really worth a new thread in the PS2 section).
It's activated the same way, change ram address 202C686C from 05 to C5 (Using PCSX2 and Cheat Engine).

It seems they ported the Gindows debug system to the PS2 and didn't bother changing any references to Dreamcast hardware. I don't have a way to check for Nindows being functional. Beyond the variable editor using different colours for highlighting selections and lacking the Help button (It's on by default), most features seem to be the same. Build info isn't displayed on the title screen like it was in the beta and in the Dreamcast version's debug mode.



There is a new module available called 'Wire', and the test module isn't on the disc (The test folder is empty in this version). Sndtest is still missing.



Wire seems to be a promo screen from a demo version of the game. It takes you back to the Sega logo after.



As for build dates:
'Vibes' beta - v0.10 836 2001/06/01 21:56
Rez Dreamcast - v0.10 1039 2001/10/04 17:25
Rez PS2 - v0.10 1038 2001/10/04 16:33
Rez XBLA - v0.10 1038 2001/10/04 16:33

The PS2 and XBLA ports seem to be from the same codebase and are actually very slightly earlier than the Dreamcast release. Hopefully one day we'll get Rez Infinity's build info, but I'm willing to bet it'll be the same. Gindows will probably also be present in both XBLA and PS4 versions of Rez.

 

Interesting find, the xbla release keeps the ps2 build date.

 

I'd be interested in seeing if the XBLA version's debug mode is intact since the PS2 build has it and the build file is the same but I've no way to look into it currently.

As far as progress is going with looking into the Dreamcast version and the beta, I've been exploring the section of memory where the game loads the modules. There's ways to force the game to change title menu in the title module, or to go to the next section of a level (or any section, even blank ones) in the stage modules.

The normal level select actually does allow you to select from levels 06, 20, 50, etc., but has no BPM set for these in this menu and will cause the game to play at 0 BPM which messes up all timing based events and freezes the pulsing ball on the level select. This is despite level 20, the tutorial level, having a BPM set when the game loads it in demo mode or from the debug level select. Just thought it was interesting these levels could be selected this way by editing the max number of selectable levels in memory. Going past stage 50 causes a memory overflow.

The audio glitch that happens when you complete the final boss (stage 06) in the beta seems to be caused because the game does load the music files for that level but never actually plays them in the level. Whenever you complete a level in the beta the level select normally has no music, but after stage 06 it then plays the music files from the level in the level select instead. Obviously this was all fixed for the final version.

 

There was some new early prototype footage of Rez shown during the postmortem at GDC this year. The entire presentation is now available for streaming:
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023187/Classic-Game-Postmortem

It's not much, but some of it is very early. You'll also see the same debug HUD in some of the screenshots above in some of the footage. For the first half Mizuguchi mostly speaks through a translator, but as he starts to get low on time he switches to English for the last 20 minutes or so. I thought anyone who watches this thread may find the presentation interesting.

 

Seems like the footage was just the stuff they didn't show off in these videos.




It's before they added the Underworld soundtrack. The early Earth boss battle sounds like it's using that percussion loop left in the beta version we do have. Probably also used the unused Earth death sound too. The orange player form is in the test files with it's animation.

 

So build 899 was found a few weeks ago (http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/new-gd-r-beta-dreamcast-games.65012/)

Build info for reference:
'Vibes' beta - v0.10 836 2001/06/01 21:56
Rez beta - v0.10 899 2001/07/30 09:53
Rez Dreamcast - v0.10 1039 2001/10/04 17:25
Rez PS2 - v0.10 1038 2001/10/04 16:33
Rez XBLA - v0.10 1038 2001/10/04 16:33

Though the game is unfinished, debug mode is disabled by default in this build. Perhaps it was a demonstration version.
Here's a new memory address to enable debug mode:
Set 2C242E9D (Cheat engine with demul) to C5 once the game has loaded or created your save file.

This beta is a lot closer to the final aesthetically, and is now called Rez instead of Vibes.
Instead of calling itself a beta, this build calls itself "PS2 Start" (Only when debug is on).
There is an intro animation, which seems the same as final. No audio for this though.
The level select now lists the music artist and track name.
This is the build of the game that uses Rockerfella Skank by Fatboy Slim for area 2.
Underworld's songs from the previous beta are mostly gone, though Born Slippy Nuxx is used as the level select song for area 1, and is still used in area 4 even though the level select has Rock is Sponge.
The level select bpm for Area 5 has been slowed to 90 in this build (same as final).
The creepy options menu has been replaced by the final version's.
The score attack level select has been implemented (The model was in the other beta).
The final player form is no longer Massive.
Beyond mode exists.
Boss rush mode exists (stage 21).

Level select tracklisting:
Area 1 - UGAmix by Fiber-Jelly (Keiichi Sugiyama uses this name, and the song is Buggie Running Beeps).
Area 2 - Rockerfeller Skank by Fatboy Slim.
Area 3 - 'Unfixed' by Ken Ishii (This is Creation, though it uses a different audio loop here to the final).
Area 4 - Rock is Sponge by Tsuyoshi, a member of Joujouka (The level actually still uses Underworld music though).
Area 5 - Fear is the Mind Killer by Adam Freeland (Called Fear in the final).

Area 6 is closer to the final's design, also using Boss Attacks by Coldcut, from the final.
The Eden battle doesn't seem to be using the correct music, Boss Attacks continued playing for me. Unsure if the correct song is in the game or not.
An ending has been implemented, and the credits music exists.
Lost Area exists and uses F6 GS by Ebz.
Trance Mission exists and uses the level select music file.
Options mode has no music.
Score rankings has no music.