Castlevania Dungeon Forums

The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => Fan Stuff => Topic started by: Sinis on August 07, 2017, 03:50:05 PM

Title: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on August 07, 2017, 03:50:05 PM
Figured that I would make a post in the Fan Section that surrounds my ROM hack as shocking it is to me that word spread this far of course too never thought it would get this much attention.

I do accept any and all criticism along with suggestions, ideas, and if anyone is interested donation sprite work for enemies and backgrounds.  I'm doing just fine by myself doing this stuff however if anyone wants to pitch in I'm all open for that.  The programmer on whoever I get in the future can see about having him/her make an extra section for credits in the game list those who helped or pitched in.  I don't plan on putting this on a cart so can have a lot of room for it however there are certain limitations so adjusting whatever it may be will have to be done.  If you do want to contribute please let them not be remakes of anything from Castlevania 3/Akumajou Densetsu as I'm changing a lot of things around to represent new enemies with hopes in the future of custom lessers and bosses (deeply crossing  my fingers for that one and will wait until doomsday for that to happen) :)


Now I know the first reaction to people is "Oh my gosh, its a ROM!  Why is that here?!?!"  Well, I've seen the old CoA float around on here ages ago and Sephrious, a gentleman that I'm doing ROM hacks with, posted the reboot (which I'm also part of for sprites) figured that there would be no harm in posting the progress that I'm going through to make this happen.  I was working on another Castlevania 3/Akumajou Densetsu hack, Vengeance on Hell 2, but there was a lot more calling towards Legends NES than anything else so I decided to halt stuff on VoH 2 (not cancelling) and focus entirely on Legends NES.

When this is 100% completed will I be posting the actual ROM up?  No I will not.  I will be posting an IPS patch link that can be followed to ROMhacking.net for everyone to download and enjoy.  The actual ROM of Akumajou Densetsu you will have to use your own abilities to find as I cannot tell nor show you on where to aquire them.  Since I'm posting outside of ROMhacking.net I will still follow their rules and guidelines alongside castlevaniadungeon.net so that way both sides of the spectrum are happy :)



So far on the project is:

Sinis: Sprites and Level Design
nesfan: Reference Track Composer
Sephirous: Simple Programming


Still trying to find someone in the future that knows all the in's and out's for ASM coding and 6502 assembly volunteer work to make changes happen without trying to hijack or steal the project.


I'd like to set the story in 1376, a hundred years prior to the events of Dracula's Curse.  I know this isn't exactly to how the GameBoy is but figured I'd set it in that giant black area where nothing was really going on for the Belmonts.  May change stuff around though originally had it as Sonia was the granddaughter of Simon Belmont then also felt that was too close to Juste.  Felt screw it and picked a year before Dracula's Curse.  I know this isn't canon nor do I want it to be official canon however still want to set it in an area that hasn't really been messed with :)



Info about the project :)

Early alpha testing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNjZMp2hPG8&t=60s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNjZMp2hPG8&t=60s)

During a time when I was experimenting around with a Sonia sprite I accidentally created one night when tipsy on Angry Orchard.  Figured I'd roll with it while testing out boss sprites being made for the Cadence of Agony reboot.  Some time later someone asked me to post up a video in seeing of how Sonia is animated.  I was happy to show them in a private video now deleted however decided to show it off to the world alongside the Minotaur Boss for Cadence of Agony :)

Things took off from there in something that I didn't even remotely think about doing.  I joked about it here and there but then it became reality lol.



Stage 1, Abandoned Hillside Fortress https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjyyh5mUVnk&t=33s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjyyh5mUVnk&t=33s)

Placed somewhere near the Deborah area.  I will adjust the location once I get, or find, a proper map that shows the entire area in detail so I can adjust things accordingly so that way people are not scratching their heads.



Stage 2, Deborah Cliff Mineshaft

(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2F91y3s3C.jpg&hash=1a1b6e14617bfbb31ca748e8b99fd860)

No video yet but this is what I have so far.  Things are still being adjusted and sorted around to how I like it.  Seeing which things I like from what I make.  Colors are almost there as I'm trying to make things vibrant and pop out.  Stuff won't be plastered as to how you see the background from what it is right now.  Want to make it patchy with more stuff in the background with what limited space that is offered within the ROM itself via a program called reVamp.



Extra stuff

So far I have a new jump and death animation I'd like to have implemented in.  They still need to be adjusted but its something to go by right now.

(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FbU5SyU5.jpg&hash=4c1e817d0f9f0740196b70e3705f2c06)

More extra stuff will come later as right now I'm focusing on level design.



Sub Weapons

There will be the usual bit from Castlevania 3/Akumajou Densetsu however there will be a few extras added in.  I recently tossed the idea of having elemental attacks from Sypha's fire, ice and lightning converted over for Sonia to use as I felt there were too many sub weapons but seeing of how some close friends of mine want me to go for that aspect I'll keep the idea on the side.  The Vampire Killer whip fireball attack will be placed into the game but possibly as a sub weapon.  Depending on what the programmer knows I'll probably have it placed in as a third upgrade with the power of the dagger and if that is done the enemies will become stronger along with the bosses which was the original intention anyway as this won't be a walk in the park ;)




This is about all that I have for now.  Stuff will definitely change in the future and I will keep this thread updated as much as possible alongside my other one back on romhacking.net forums :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: X on August 07, 2017, 11:30:16 PM
I see you got the thread started  :D

I look forwards to giving this game a play-through once it is finished. Although don't make it too hard. With everything there must be a balance. Good luck on your project, and even if it gets tough, don't give up  ;)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: eryson on August 08, 2017, 07:36:24 AM
Seems awesome.
Are these ropes planned to be added as an main feature? we'll be able to climb them?
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on August 08, 2017, 11:41:25 AM
I see you got the thread started  :D

I look forwards to giving this game a play-through once it is finished. Although don't make it too hard. With everything there must be a balance. Good luck on your project, and even if it gets tough, don't give up  ;)


Everything will be balanced accordingly so it won't feel impossible or a long stretch :)


Seems awesome.
Are these ropes planned to be added as an main feature? we'll be able to climb them?

Once I can get a programmer to implement them in they will function like those on the GameBoy.  I was going to keep the stairs in as well however the game recognizes only one feature to move up and down to access upper and lower sections of the rooms so the ropes will be the only function to move around alongside the doors.  The issue with the blocks won't be there like how the GameBoy is where you jump and get 'stuck' for a millisecond.  The biggest feature to add is the boss rooms and tie every level back to back by eliminating the forks in the road.  I still gotta talk and ask around for someone to add a save feature to that similar on Castlevania Chronicles.  That part will take the most out of everything as I don't want anyone skipping forward via the password screen :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on August 18, 2017, 08:32:50 AM
Been very busy lately though slow progress is being made.  Still messing with Stage 2, Deborah Cliff Mine.  Its getting there :)

(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FJYSelzr.jpg&hash=717b6c19a86b0631cdc4c2bb6b8ae0a0)


(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FrxSjkr0.jpg&hash=6dca40df8b9909575c19378481c13c0d)


I'm not changing Sonia's look anymore.  Out of all my character sprites I've made she's the only one that's gone through the most changes so this is a final look for her.  No more :)

As for the stage, I have plenty of room left over and hit a creative point so I'll show that off when I get a video posted on YouTube.  Maybe another week or two, depending if real life still has a hold of me along with any future development for CoA and another hack called MetroidVania.  I know that I stated about posting up some sprites for the rope climbing in which I'll do that this weekend when I do make some time for it.  Started on it and its halfway done.  When I do want it implemented I'm going for 3 animation frames which extend into four like how the walk cycle does so it feels like an actual person climbing instead of it being mirrored however the attacks will share the same sprites from looking left to right which is fine as that's how Castlevania is anyway.


Someone asked if the pit arenas are going to be in the hack.  They aren't as that would cause things to overlap with other stuff.  Only thing that will be added at the end of each level is a boss room and that's about all for extra rooms.  Every time when I run into something I find space for more so this is going to be an interesting project once its done lol.

That's about the gist of things for now :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: eryson on August 18, 2017, 12:48:30 PM
Sonia's sprite is fairly good as it is.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on August 19, 2017, 01:15:53 PM
It is though people kept wanting me to change it constantly to their specifications in which I started to but then got tired of how it was beginning to become with all of the feedback so I redid it to an earlier concept and improved it a little.



Anyway, here's the rope climbing concept that I have.  Trying to make it fit into a certain area and dimensions as I'm going to utilize Grant's area for new animations or at least hope to since there will be no side characters.

(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FLyBv7Cn.jpg&hash=b21cb8f8ba4e82c31a4d7db8f6d01d69)

I really could use feedback on any adjustments for this.  I'll get the rope attack sprites up either later tonight or tomorrow.



There is a ton of space that I can use for new stuff towards Sonia so going to take full advantage of it and seeing of how things are turning out the elemental stuff may actually be put in after all.  Gotta have something to turn on and use with the Select button  :P
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: X on August 21, 2017, 09:59:05 AM
Yeah you kinda get lost when you are trying to appease everyone's tastes. Stick to your guns and make the best damned Sonia sprite you can  8)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on August 22, 2017, 12:37:19 PM
Yeah you kinda get lost when you are trying to appease everyone's tastes. Stick to your guns and make the best damned Sonia sprite you can  8)

Will do :)



Not  much of an update but this is what is planned for now.


(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FTnIavVH.jpg&hash=a179f36d1acc44e0400141611573c48f)


Really not sure if the game can handle some kind of special sub weapon attack though made the sprite for it anyway lol :)




On a side note.  I saw in the other post that people said there was a lot to edit in Castlevania 3/Akumajou Densetsu.  There's a lot of info and data to go through let alone sprites.  Been thinking about an idea for some time to show people on how to actually edit and go through Castlevania 3/Akumajou Densetsu for sprite, background and level editing.  I know you can do this for other ROM's as well but people seem to be so intimidated by all of the stuff in Castlevania 3 so I'll see about doing a tutorial series sometime to teach people about it.  Might make a personal discord channel for those that are interested as I don't know any wiki's to post that kind of stuff up on it :)





Unrelated to Legends NES.  Recently I decided to put my foot into Super Castlevania IV hacking that was suggested to me by a gentleman named bogaabogaa.  I looked and searched around online to the best of  my abilities to see if anyone was using the sprite for anything and found nothing so I'm going to use the Simon sprite in Portrait of Ruin for a base.  Never found an exact GIF size of it unless I looked in the wrong places though who knows.

Recreated it from a screenshot that I found.  I know it needs work and some redoing to go in appropriately (along with color adjustment for 16 bit) but this is what I have right now.  So if anyone knows if this is actual 16 bit please let me know and I'll adjust it accordingly with the appropriate amount of colors needed.  The whip colors are separate from the actual figure ones :)

(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FHIaLZcP.jpg&hash=ed17b57ae78d12fe4e5a48606b0e1bbb)


Its going to be a long road as I need to teach  myself actual 16 bit spriting as freehand stuff isn't the same from what I know so I have to pay attention to everything more over than what 8 bit has.  Probably won't edit the levels until a better SC4 editor comes out but thanks to bogaabogaa I can actually do something with a SNES ROM :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: theplottwist on August 22, 2017, 02:20:38 PM
Unrelated to Legends NES.  Recently I decided to put my foot into Super Castlevania IV hacking that was suggested to me by a gentleman named bogaabogaa.  I looked and searched around online to the best of  my abilities to see if anyone was using the sprite for anything and found nothing so I'm going to use the Simon sprite in Portrait of Ruin for a base.

Actually yes, there is a fangame using this sprite:

http://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/index.php?topic=8201.msg182670#msg182670 (http://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/index.php?topic=8201.msg182670#msg182670)

This game looks unfinished, but I DID actually manage to find a link to a very complete version of it years ago. Anyway, I do think you'll be alright using it, dude :) Forget it, it wasn't this one. It was THIS one:

http://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/index.php?topic=7702.msg171575#msg171575 (http://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/index.php?topic=7702.msg171575#msg171575)

But I still think you'll be OK using it.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on August 22, 2017, 02:32:38 PM
I really should be fine using it since it is from Portrait of Ruin and the movements won't be exact to that one as this stuff has to coincide with Super Castlevania IV's Simon :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: theplottwist on August 22, 2017, 02:36:27 PM
Also, here is the sprite, if you still need it. I ripped it from the game.

(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FkCfVF8l.png&hash=8e93b30685ef1cc3b8d77bdd2be586d5)

I'd just urge you to change Simon's far arm. It's really badly done on this sprite, and animating with this EXACT pose makes for an awkward animation o_o
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on August 22, 2017, 03:34:01 PM
Looks like I got some stuff wrong when I eyeballed it lol.  His arm is definitely going to be changed as once I got done with making mine I sat back and literally said "Huh..." about his posture.  Definitely going to keep his height normal though the SC4 one is a tad taller of about 6 pixels by the look of it though it will almost match up to the whip attack so that's a plus there.  A lot of trial and error is ahead of me that's for sure :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: X on August 23, 2017, 12:03:24 AM
Quote
I'd just urge you to change Simon's far arm. It's really badly done on this sprite, and animating with this EXACT pose makes for an awkward animation o_o

There is a bit more wrong with that sprite in general. I can see that not only is his arm a bit of a miss-match, it is also that his upper-body is too ridged and not bending forwards as we would normally see with someone who's throwing a forwards attack with all of their might. Plus I do believe this sprite was somewhat of a copy from Simon's original Castlevania cover pose and altered slightly which is why the arm looks off with the attack. IGA's team should've used the Chronicles Simon attack instead. It would have looked far less awkward.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on August 23, 2017, 07:23:31 AM
The torso I was going to scoot a tad forward at the waistline then make him look as if he's bending over slightly with the arm farthest out a little more.  Thought about trimming down the legs just a wee bit but not too thin like Richter's look.  I'll be messing around with it tomorrow as I'll be busy all day today lol.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on August 30, 2017, 05:53:29 PM
Been sitting on this decision for a while now.  Been talking it over with my music reference composer, nesfan, after speaking with some talented programmers.  For Legends NES I'd like to have that converted over to the N163 sound engine format.  I know looking for a programmer to do this will be extremely difficult to do as it will be like looking for a needle in a haystack.  Why the move to N163?  Because its there and its 100% possible.  Right now nesfan will be focusing on the VRC6 stuff unless he wants to go on with N163-6 channel stuff.

I understand that the ROM itself may not have so-and-so stuff for it but programming it in, whoever does it, will have all the time in the world to do this.  They just have to be very familiar with mappers and the likes for it to actually happen.  Could always find a sound engine that utilizes this and port it over though it all depends on what the programmer will want to do.

Am I reaching for a pipe dream?  Doesn't feel like it.  I've seen the impossible become possible on the RHDN website by talented programmers and not afraid to ask around for it when the time comes.  Was just holding onto the idea until I got more information.  Not an easy task to undertake but something I'd like to happen towards Legends NES.  Everything will have to be done by scratch since it will be a full on sound engine conversion.  Again, I'm not worried about putting this on a cartridge so can expand to whatever size necessary with hopes of not have to rely on a single custom or its own type of emulator just to run it :)


I know people will step forward and say I should just stick to VRC6 however this is something I want to aim for and with the help of whoever wants to step up and take on this massive task it will be deeply appreciated.  This will most likely be the only project I'll ever do this to :)




In time I will post up more stuff for Legends NES as I went back to tweak up some things.  Never knew I'd be putting this  much love and attention into the Clock Tower lol :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: X on August 30, 2017, 06:07:46 PM
Quote
Never knew I'd be putting this  much love and attention into the Clock Tower lol :)

I gotta see that when it's ready  :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on September 04, 2017, 09:55:54 AM
It will be a bit longer.  I have enough time to post and update stuff that I'll be busy all week long doing stuff as my insurance company screamed at me about having the 'wrong' type of base rock on my driveway so I gotta get that cleaned off and put in other stuff.  Some new rule that they sent to me about the county changing a few months ago.  Not only that I need to fix a part on  my privacy fence that they don't like either, said its a fire hazard (painted in a different color and they want it the same).  If I want to keep my insurance, gotta follow the rules  :P



On a side note about the N163 bit.  It may not happen.  Talked to a few more sources about it and found out it will cut most of my plans for Legends NES by 3/4 which scared the hell out of me.  Sure I can expand over this  by having the ROM expanded to huge proportions however some stuff will need this and this to function so in the end I'll most likely end up sticking to VRC6 which is cool.  Really don't want to loose my plans for the game lol.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on September 22, 2017, 04:35:14 PM
Found some teeny, tiny time today to work on Legends NES.  Getting things sorted out however still far from done on remotely working on anything throughout the day  :P


Second half of Stage 2.  Finally working things out.  Using some of the blocks from the actual Legends GB game to see how it looks.  May or may not keep it, dunno yet.  Still gotta decide on what background to go with as I'm trying to make this level feel like the cave area in the GameBoy game.

(https://i.imgur.com/bogGnwj.jpg)

Another room.  The moving platforms need to be adjusted around a bit.

(https://i.imgur.com/t9fCUZN.jpg)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Corpsecrank on September 27, 2017, 04:50:23 AM
About the colors in a 16bit sprite.

For SNES you have 256 maximum colors per layer per scanline and 32,768 maximum colors on-screen. A palette is limited to 15 colors and transparency. What you really need to look at is how many colors in the palette are shared between the character and other objects on screen. If you have a single palette for the character sprite on it's own you can use up to 15 colors for Simon. I can't remember how the palettes work on SNES if the character sprite shares a palette or not but this is the key factor that will tell you exactly how many different colors you can actually use for the character.

My guess though is that you can cheat this a little by sharing maybe just a couple colors between the character and specific objects that will appear on screen at the same time. It may allow you to get away with using a couple extra colors you really want on the character sprite anyhow.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on October 04, 2017, 08:19:54 AM
My apologies for not responding sooner as I've bee both mentally and physically exhausted this past month doing stuff.

I deeply appreciate the info on the 16 bit spriting as I don't want to accidentally go overboard on something that won't be able to work for a SNES game.  Not sure on how much I can actually cheat since I only want to do the character sprite only without touching anything in the background.  I'm making this sprite for someone else as they told me I have all the time in the world to make it and have it fit accordingly :)



On a side note for Legends NES, I'll most likely begin working back on my project after Halloween unless something happens then sooner though there is a side project I am working on with someone else by doing the character and boss sprites so I want to get that done and out of the way first before focusing 100% back onto Legends NES :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on November 02, 2017, 01:05:35 PM
Well, a small update on Legends NES and its not too pretty.

Thanks to some idiot out there I'm gonna have to rename Legends NES into something else however I plan on keeping Legends within the title so the theme can still be there.  I'm able to keep all of my stuff up on YouTube however certain ones I'll need to rename.  With that being said I'm going to talk to Sephirous on what he thinks on moving my Sonia Belmont and the events around her into the universe where the Cadence of Agony reboot resides in.  The story I did have will have to be trashed in order to accommodate the new.


I expected drama when I started my stuff which is no big deal but the only thing I'm sour about is I have to redo the story as I had something great going.  This won't effect the levels in any way though when I do get to designing more of them I'll have to adjust them around to the new time period.  I'm going to keep this thread titled the same for now until otherwise.

Such is life :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: X on November 02, 2017, 05:56:22 PM
That a bum shame  :(

What was the original story like?
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on November 03, 2017, 06:46:26 AM
The story was set 100 years before the events of Dracula's Curse with the Belmonts being shown as part of the church while also have it show on how the people of the land came to fear them.  Right now on where I sit with things I still have plans on having the Legends theme to the game however I have to come up with a title with Legends in it while not having it sound cliche.



A person suggested that I keep it titled Legends NES but after what I went through I don't wanna test fate right now so going to have this Sonia 100 years after the events of an upcoming project by Sephirous that's set after Cadence of Agony which will make mine #4 in this series.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: X on November 04, 2017, 10:23:47 PM
Legends of Castlevania.

Sounds good from here, just in reverse  :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on November 05, 2017, 07:55:07 PM
Legends of Castlevania.

Sounds good from here, just in reverse  :)

Legends of the Demonic Castle it is :)


Also, a poll is up and will expire in 30 days so that way it will give everyone plenty of time to make a decision on what to have this renamed to :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on November 10, 2017, 06:02:33 AM
Aight, I took down the poll as I'm getting more suggestions from people that are sounding better than others.  Whoever suggested stuff to me I do apologize about taking down the poll however I can only fit 5 names into it.  Right now I'm still open for suggestions and at this rate I'll probably toss out Legends within the title but still keep the Legends theme within the game as that's not going to change.


My original ideas for the game's content aren't going anywhere :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: BLOOD MONKEY on November 10, 2017, 08:34:46 AM
You could do Demon Castle Dracula: Legends. Or Legends of the Demon Castle Dracula. Or you could stick with a more direct translation of the Japanese name, Demon Castle Dracula: Dark Night Prelude.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on November 11, 2017, 06:13:22 PM
That one is a thought as I can place on the table as well :)


One was recently thrown at me.  Castlevania 4: Resurrection of Darkness.  Has a nice ring to it honestly :)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on November 21, 2017, 10:08:34 AM
Well, people kept asking me to see stage 2 of RoD so here's a video of the unfinished stage.  Been busy doing stuff for CoA, BoS and MetroidVania I haven't touched it much.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpBhmSVAS5Q&t=15s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpBhmSVAS5Q&t=15s)



Remember, this is all just graphic hacking right now as I haven't found a programmer yet to alter things within the game to how I want them to so please bear with the stair glitches that I have to use to traverse around :)


Music for the project.  The gentleman who's doing all of the composure for the VRC6 stuff, nesfan, will get me something sometime soon when he's not too busy with stuff.
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on November 25, 2017, 08:15:03 PM
Aight, the first boss theme is up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT21ViuRV9s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT21ViuRV9s)



Decided to show off a sprite to a future custom boss that I'm calling the Stone Manticore.  After learning so  much from CoA and Optomon I'm enjoying the freedom that I can have within a certain space.  Sure things will have to be adjusted in time to cope with whatever walls that are hit but never have I expected to be able to go quite far in something like this :)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: zangetsu468 on November 25, 2017, 08:35:28 PM
Take my money..
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: X on November 25, 2017, 09:52:54 PM
Are you going to remix all the CV legends music for this project? I'd like to hear 'm all  :)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on November 25, 2017, 10:01:26 PM
Take my money..


No money necessary.  Freeware will be freeware :)


Are you going to remix all the CV legends music for this project? I'd like to hear 'm all  :)


Not all but some of the better ones will be remixed by the guy that puts these together for reference tracks named nesfan.  You can watch his stuff here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXR9KhOI3ZNwf0ygvqS3JVA/videos (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXR9KhOI3ZNwf0ygvqS3JVA/videos)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on November 26, 2017, 08:52:10 AM
Before I start doing other stuff today here's a few sprites I'm working on.  Custom bosses for RoD :)


(https://i.imgur.com/B0tFaT6.jpg)


The Stone Manticore and the previous color set I have which I almost had it a Fire Manticore.  I know there are too many colors for Dracula's head but I know of a cheap trick in the YYCHR to make this happen  ;)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: X on November 27, 2017, 09:42:07 AM
Dracula looks cool! It reminds me of his Chronicles counterpart.
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Briraka on November 27, 2017, 12:53:29 PM
I know there are too many colors for Dracula's head but I know of a cheap trick in the YYCHR to make this happen  ;)

i think i may have an idea on how you're doing that. dracula's head was a separate sprite from the rest of his body in the original cv3, but here you're using the black, red, and white from the body sprite and then doing the megaman trick of overlaying the face's blues on top of it.
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on November 27, 2017, 04:03:28 PM
Dracula looks cool! It reminds me of his Chronicles counterpart.


Thanks!  This form is modeled after Chronicles in the Arranged version :)



i think i may have an idea on how you're doing that. dracula's head was a separate sprite from the rest of his body in the original cv3, but here you're using the black, red, and white from the body sprite and then doing the megaman trick of overlaying the face's blues on top of it.


Don't know of the Megaman trick as I have not touched any of them though you are correct.  Was going to do this for CoA but due to a golden palette that Sephirous chose I decided to toss out that idea as the golden eye thing didn't look well for that form.
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Briraka on November 28, 2017, 04:17:03 AM
Don't know of the Megaman trick as I have not touched any of them though you are correct.  Was going to do this for CoA but due to a golden palette that Sephirous chose I decided to toss out that idea as the golden eye thing didn't look well for that form.

the megaman trick is essentially what i described, layering sprites on top of each other in order to use more colours.
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on November 28, 2017, 06:27:40 AM
Aight,  understood :)


Shameful for me to say this, I never played any of the Megaman games as I was more into Metroid and Zelda back in the day lol.
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on November 28, 2017, 09:42:19 AM
Sephirous once told me that there were areas in the prayer scene that were not capable of being edited.  From changing certain sprites around think I found the exact spots that he was talking about.



(https://i.imgur.com/B9mCpyQ.jpg)


On the left is my mock-up intro to replace the prayer scene.  Still working things out as nothing is final as I still have to slide stuff around in the YYCHR for things to fit.  On the right is the area with the yellow circles showing the spots that cannot be changed apparently.  The amount of frustration this brings is very irritating.  Whoever joins me for doing the in-depth programming I'll  have to see if they can change this so my mock-up screen can become a reality someday.
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: X on November 28, 2017, 10:19:13 AM
It is a shame really, as your mock-up screen intro looks awesome!
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on November 28, 2017, 06:53:03 PM
Thanks though I'm still not done with it.  Going to finish it after I fit the castle into the data via YYCHR :)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on December 19, 2017, 12:14:26 PM
Update time on RoD.  Its not much though I'm showing everyone that stuff is back on for the project right now.


Fixed some stuff in Stage 1.  Gave it a tad bit more environment by adding a mountain range in the background.



(https://i.imgur.com/WnQbRdk.jpg)



I know people are wanting to see Stage 2 completed let alone the beginning works for Stage 3.  Had to go back and make adjustments so things would hopefully feel like they are popping out more.

Other than that, I'll be working on the title screen to input it in and once that is done I'll send the game off to Sephirous so he can fiddle around with the prayer screen while I work around with Stage 2 and 3 sprites :)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on December 19, 2017, 07:04:44 PM
 New track is out for RoD, A Requiem (Game Select) :)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d9eGZdkLMI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d9eGZdkLMI)


Another one will be brought out in the  near future :)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: eryson on December 20, 2017, 01:38:31 PM
This landscape is so beautiful!!! :D
Also, I loved the music, sounded very sentimental with this chiptune.  :'(
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Briraka on December 20, 2017, 02:36:58 PM
screenshot looks nice, however i would suggest changing sonia's brown colour into dark red so that she can pop out of the background a bit more.
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on December 20, 2017, 03:56:05 PM
This landscape is so beautiful!!! :D
Also, I loved the music, sounded very sentimental with this chiptune.  :'(


Thanks and I'll pass that word on to nesfan the next time I speak to him :)


screenshot looks nice, however i would suggest changing sonia's brown colour into dark red so that she can pop out of the background a bit more.


Since you pointed that out it didn't make her pop.  Was 07, now 06.


(https://i.imgur.com/wTqi6cY.jpg)




On a side note, hope to get a screenshot of the newer ares of Stage 2 posted up sometime later tonight.  Went back to revise some stuff on another hack that I helped someone with called Prelude of Light.  Almost tempted to give that guy custom enemy sprites but have to see on how far he's going to go with the hack itself in the future :)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Briraka on December 20, 2017, 04:30:20 PM
Since you pointed that out it didn't make her pop.  Was 07, now 06.
(image)

yeah, 06 seems to be a good in-between for her red/brown.
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Inccubus on December 21, 2017, 04:35:21 AM
Question. You can alter her palette on a stage-by-stage basis?
If so, maybe you should consider altering it based on the palettes used in each background.
It would be like a sort of primitive lighting system.
Most games are capable of this, but very few ever take advantage of it.
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on December 21, 2017, 07:33:39 AM
Throughout the game the palette to Sonia is all the same.  The only time it changes is for the support characters when they talk to you (there won't be any in this game so that will used in extra space for more goodies), the prayer screen and the map screen transition when you autowalk to the next level from what I remember.  Everything else is all relied on the same values.  I'd rather have it not change at all as this and another stage will have green in it plus that would require extra programming in which I don't want to have done :)


yeah, 06 seems to be a good in-between for her red/brown.


Indeed :)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on December 21, 2017, 09:31:36 AM
Just to update everyone.  I stopped working on RoD.  Nothing bad or anything.  Just waiting patiently for Sephirous to finish up on his work for the prayer screen as he's made a breakthrough :)



If anyone remembers from an earlier post of me posting up a screen showing circled areas in the prayer screen that weren't editable, Sephirous got those spots working just fine now.



(https://i.imgur.com/bzpB64C.jpg)



I know this seems confusing to people as its a garbled mess however this is huge progress.  The areas are now active and can be edited to fit the mock-up screen :)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: X on December 21, 2017, 09:52:44 AM
I wish you luck as I can't make out heads or tails of that  ???
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on December 21, 2017, 11:23:34 AM
I wish you luck as I can't make out heads or tails of that  ???


Thanks and its fine as I'm just showing those black spots that I displayed some time back are editable.  When Sephirous is done with the prayer screen I'll post that up.



I have also posted up another track.  Road of Enemy is now up for everyone to listen to :)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyM8eJCcO2I (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyM8eJCcO2I)



Just a quick edit.  Seems YouTube butchered the quality of the music a tad compare to what I have.  Kinda annoying but going to roll with it as it shows in previous music tracks that I've posted to my channel.  Such is technology.
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: X on December 22, 2017, 06:41:26 PM
Quote
I have also posted up another track.  Road of Enemy is now up for everyone to listen to :)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyM8eJCcO2I (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyM8eJCcO2I)

Oh hell yes! That sounds awesome! Even if the quality took a slight hit  :)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on December 23, 2017, 06:58:00 AM
Aight and thanks!  I'll pass the word along to nesfan when him and I speak more (hopefully later today unless he's busy due to it being the holidays.) :)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on January 07, 2018, 08:30:40 AM
After everything being done with the holidays, was able to finish up Stage 2 after all this time.


(https://i.imgur.com/29FnABa.jpg)


(https://i.imgur.com/vXLUH95.jpg)




Thanks to Sephirous the prayer screen is closer to completion.  This is what he was able to do to the best that he could.  In time I'll have whoever joins in on the fun make it match the mock-up screen.

(https://i.imgur.com/Ugn6diC.jpg)




That's about all for now :)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on January 11, 2018, 10:46:21 AM
Forgot to update this thread  :P


Stage 3, Dora Woods is coming along slowly.  Making it a nod to Thaddeus and Optomon's work on Castlevania: Bloodlust from what I remember on that one video that used to be up on YouTube.  I have 'limited' space compared to Castlevania 2 since Castlevania 3 has the status bar up top so working around that.


(https://i.imgur.com/b9H2RdJ.jpg)


Been changing things around a lot and still feels I have certain things brighter and more color than what the video portrayed as certain things in that had a single color for quite a few things.  Going to fiddle around with the ground, grass and stone more before I start working on my version of trees for the background colors.  Going to squeeze things together as best as I can so the player can also traverse through certain caves.  The background colors will change in time as I'm just creating the stuff that I need right now then will experiment around with night time colors :)



I'll post up more later once this stage is close to completion :)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: theplottwist on January 15, 2018, 03:12:37 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/b9H2RdJ.jpg)

I need this in my life so bad. The Thaddeus' inspired tileset is REALLY nice, dude.
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on January 15, 2018, 06:46:01 PM
I need this in my life so bad. The Thaddeus' inspired tileset is REALLY nice, dude.

You and me both.  Of how his stuff was I'm combining  my art style with Thaddeus' from now on as some of  his art is close to mine in certain aspects as it showed me where I was lacking at.  When I design stage 4 its going to be interesting :)




To update the thread, worked more on Stage 3 today.


(https://i.imgur.com/UbuI93K.jpg)


More of the forest of what it will look like throughout parts of Stage 3.  Gotta work out a few more things so stuff doesn't feel like a copy and paste for the backgrounds here and there near the bigger trees.



(https://i.imgur.com/OrzvdUk.jpg)


Of how certain water areas will appear. 



Its not direct copy and paste as I wanted to learn on how this was done from eyeing stuff.  Already gave me a ton of ideas and I'm tempted to go and redo certain things in the first stage because of the shadow trickery bit going on.  Thaddeus isn't around these days but felt he taught me something while looking at his artwork.  Going to experiment around a bit on other things for future levels :)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: X on January 16, 2018, 10:37:05 AM
That looks gorgeous  :)  Keep sticking to your guns and this hack will be phenomenal.
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on January 16, 2018, 07:34:19 PM
I plan on it :)
Title: Re: Castlevania IV: Resurrection of Darkness (was Legends NES) ROM Hack
Post by: Sinis on January 27, 2018, 09:16:55 AM
Well, to update this thread in an interesting and embarrassing way.




I had a friend dig around for me a bit to see on what could be done about this name change bullshit a month back.  I got conned.  Everyone needs a hobby right?  Anyway.  Did my in-depth research on everything related to ROM's last night as I was furious about this let alone wanted to see where all the legal lines run.  Turns out I can keep Legends NES as an actual title as no one can do anything about it even if its from side sources.  If its from the actual source of Konami themselves then I have to change or in 99.9% of the time of what they make people do is cancel on what I'm doing from that cease and desist legal stuff they hand out.


I'm still new to all of this.  First experience for everything.  Did this make me look like an idiot?  Yeah, it did.  A total embarrassment  :P





With all of that said I'm taking the Sonia Belmont project out of Chorus of Mysteries and Cadence of Agony fanverse and setting this back into 1376 as Legends NES.


I'm gonna shell up for the rest of the weekend.  Screwed up people are always the worse to deal with.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: X on January 27, 2018, 10:00:44 AM
Everybody makes mistakes, it's what makes us human. What's important is to learn from them and move past them. So don't worry too much okay? Even if your projects hits the occasional snag We'll still be here waiting for you to finish it  ;)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: Sinis on February 15, 2018, 07:09:23 AM
Around stuff going on this week I had time to fiddle and add a few more things into Stage 3, Dora Woods :)



Redoing some things for color.

(https://i.imgur.com/jXCluTA.jpg)


Cave system, still working out the kinks.  There will be a background to it instead of being black.


(https://i.imgur.com/hSzWpaF.jpg)



Does this look familiar?  I hope it does as I'm trying  my best to recreate this certain water area from the video that was taken down.  Not sure if I will be going with a mountain range in the back as I'll add my own thing.

(https://i.imgur.com/thNYh6w.jpg)






Stage 1 got a color edit as I'm changing certain things to start off the game with.

(https://i.imgur.com/lXkkbmq.jpg)






That's about all for now :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: Belmontoya on February 20, 2018, 10:13:01 AM
Looks great man!

Glad to see you took the name Legends back.

Best of luck!
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: Sinis on March 10, 2018, 09:36:37 AM
Looks great man!

Glad to see you took the name Legends back.

Best of luck!


Indeed.  Now that I know better on that sort of thing no one can derail things that I'm working on or will be working on.  I'm saving Resurrection of Darkness title back for a Castlevania 1 hack once I'm done with this and another Akumajou Densetsu project :)





As of right now, stage 3 is about 3/4 done.  The waterway area's new look.

(https://i.imgur.com/GN0N4f8.jpg)




Forgot to post this up here.  Was working on a new title a while back.  I've decided to go with the third option.


(https://i.imgur.com/CoVtITD.jpg)





I'm hoping to have this stage done this coming week so I can get to stage 4 which should go a bit faster this time around in making it  :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: X on March 10, 2018, 10:18:04 AM
They look good. But I still miss the traditional Classic Castlevania 'C'  :'(
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: Sinis on March 10, 2018, 12:33:35 PM
I don't have the room in the title area to make the classical C of how I wanted it so had that version instead.  If I can find someone to extend the title area I would make it the classical C but that part has no luck.  Been trying to find someone that knows how to program everything that I need along with editing the music, once I'm done with my stuff and nesfan getting tracks out more often of course, but no one wants to join my project even when I got all of my stuff done beforehand.  Thought I had someone once but they wanted money for a freeware game and that is frowned upon something heavily.  Sephirous can only do so much as he gets the stuff I cannot but the actual assembly and all that for the VRC6, no one yet.



I'm well aware that programming isn't an overnight thing as it will take months to complete stuff but holy hell trying to find someone willing to join me on Legends NES and my other stuff has become extremely difficult let alone someone trustworthy that won't hijack the project or hold it for ransom.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: BLOOD MONKEY on March 10, 2018, 02:01:33 PM
Hoping that title screen palette is different. Still hella hyped for this release tho
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: Sinis on March 10, 2018, 04:25:26 PM
It will be way different.  That is from stuff that I make in photoshop by using the same colors from the YYCHR program over my previous created title (helps me keep track of the colors by inputting it in.)  Its how I do everything to make sure it fits into the YYCHR game data and once satisfied, I input it over :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: Corpsecrank on March 12, 2018, 11:11:12 AM
If I was you I would be grabbing a copy of this thing: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1316851183/nesmaker-make-nes-games-no-coding-required (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1316851183/nesmaker-make-nes-games-no-coding-required)

Not only do you get to skip learning to write assembly for the money you can't really beat it. This makes putting together projects like this one a piece of cake and it outputs a rom that can be flashed and played on the original hardware even.

Just saying this might really lighten the amount of work needed to be done even re-writing this one from scratch and for ultra cheap.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: Sinis on March 12, 2018, 04:35:02 PM
My music guy, nesfan, pointed that out to  me and I plan on getting that sometime myself.  I asked the creators on Facebook about the music formats and they said that they will eventually get around to the program using the actual stuff from FamiTracker ported on over to the game itself.


I already have about 7 projects written down for when I can buy it.  Going to see about doing a homebrew remake of Simon's Quest but with my own take on it.  I know that everyone wants to do a remake of it however I have my own in depth plans to make this one stand out among the rest :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: X on March 12, 2018, 06:14:52 PM
Quote
If I was you I would be grabbing a copy of this thing: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1316851183/nesmaker-make-nes-games-no-coding-required (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1316851183/nesmaker-make-nes-games-no-coding-required)

Holy s**t Corpscrank, awesome find! I bookmarked it for future reference since it doesn't look ready for release yet. Since I have ideas of my own this will be of tremendous help  8)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: Corpsecrank on March 13, 2018, 08:57:30 PM
Holy s**t Corpscrank, awesome find! I bookmarked it for future reference since it doesn't look ready for release yet. Since I have ideas of my own this will be of tremendous help  8)

I figured you would like that  ;D

Seriously though I might just have to snag a copy myself it looks really easy to use form all the videos I saw demonstrating it. I am currently in the midst of one insane nes mod right now also and I would love to flash some carts with various mods and rom hacks like the one you are doing once I get done modding this monster.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: Sinis on March 19, 2018, 09:42:21 PM
Finally spruced up some stuff to release a video of Stage 3, Dora Woods :)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJEubvRJGOk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJEubvRJGOk)



The mist areas need to be frozen so they don't ruin the background  :P
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: X on March 20, 2018, 10:15:41 AM
Having a bit of trouble with the boss?  ;D

The forest looks good. I also liked how it delved into a cave of sorts.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: Sinis on March 20, 2018, 10:41:56 AM
Lol, wasn't taking it seriously  ;D


For the cave areas in the beginning part of the stage I am going to have someone place the cave background in there instead of the tree backgrounds.  I could have left it blank but filled it in so it didn't look bland :)




Scratch the original thought that I typed out.  Went back to see if the background would switch out in reVamp without bugging and it seems that I can set the first cave area with the actual back background sprites without worry.  Dunno why I can do that now as it once bugged out on me.  Plays just fine so don't need anyone to do that part.


Eh, such is life.  I'll leave the video up since that is alpha gameplay after all lol :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: Sinis on March 27, 2018, 01:51:12 PM
An update to Legends NES VRC6 and its not a good one.


Here's a word from Sephirous, one of the wonderful people helping me on this project.

I looked into the door again and the best way to describe the problem is this,

Revamp doesn't work as well with the Japanese Version of CV3 that is does with the American Version.

So in some spots when a door is edited, Revamp shows it being edited and makes the according changes in the Rom but for some reason messing up the code so the door no longer works. Then when attempted to put it back, Revamp thinks it's putting it back but because the Rom got messed up the first time around it only corrupts it further doing absolutely nothing. Hence, The door is still missing. It may be due to the patching of the English Version or Revamp still has bugs in it. But the only way to fix this is to manually go into the coding and put the door back by hand. Which unfortunately at the moment my ASM knowledge isn't as great as I would like it to be.

Believe it or not, Most utilities with GUI are only interpretations or translations if you will of the hex values and such. This is for the user to know what is being edited in the Rom since most of us have no idea what hex digits represent on a huge sheet. Unfortunately this also creates times when the GUI may not be synced with the Rom and what we see in the Utility may be incorrect as the Rom no longer is being displayed correctly in the Utility. The Utility only assumes everything is where it needs to be when in fact the poor Rom is not.
Thus, Corruption and bugs.




What Sephirous has said is correct.  My suspicions are justified that reVamp is not 100% compatible with the Famicom version Akumajou Densetsu (can barely make it past Mad Forest without it screwing up now that I'm looking at  it.)  Upon getting as far as I previously did with my first ROM without the English patch (been blazing through this all day) that things become completely bugged.  I skipped ahead to the Causeway level and sure enough there is a similar problem in that part as well with a set of doors being in an area that doesn't belong in the first section making it four doors in the first room alone.  Rooms that have doors have two entry points via reVamp FYI for those reading.



With this in the spotlight, the same problems will arise with Vengeance on Hell 2 since I moved that to Akumajou Densetsu as well.  With much regret and irritation this has caused me I'm going to move Legends NES and VoH 2 back to the U.S version so I can move forward with both of these projects.  I'm not going to keep the idea of VRC6 conversion for the U.S version as that wasn't on my list to do for whoever helps program this stuff.




I'll start working Legends NES and update VoH 2 in a couple of weeks as the past few days has left me exhausted in just blazing through everything to get stuff caught up on Legends NES :P
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: X on March 28, 2018, 09:52:11 AM
That's kinda a bummer. Best of luck though.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: Sinis on March 29, 2018, 09:07:43 PM
Well, I've been talking to some people that I do stuff with for ROM hacks and I'm going to put Legends NES on  hold along with VoH 2.  Why I want to do this is due to the fact I do NOT want to let go of the VRC6 engine.  I'm going to search around for someone on the RHDN forums that can make an editor specifically for Akumajou Densetsu with extra stuff attached for in-depth editing along with music track inserting.




Again, and for the love of all Castlevania, my projects are NOT cancelled but on hold until the editor is out and bug free :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: Corpsecrank on April 04, 2018, 03:46:26 AM
Well, I've been talking to some people that I do stuff with for ROM hacks and I'm going to put Legends NES on  hold along with VoH 2.  Why I want to do this is due to the fact I do NOT want to let go of the VRC6 engine.  I'm going to search around for someone on the RHDN forums that can make an editor specifically for Akumajou Densetsu with extra stuff attached for in-depth editing along with music track inserting.

If that happens be sure to let me know. I wanted an editor for this a while ago myself but couldn't find one.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: Sinis on April 04, 2018, 11:00:40 AM
I will let you know when one does come out as I'll be letting about 11 other people know of it as well :)



In the  meantime I'm working on another project.  I might make a thread of it here though not sure on how the mods like double threading here as I don't want to spam/clog up the works here.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FI7h2vN3WU&t=3s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FI7h2vN3WU&t=3s)



I have also decided to take up ASM programming lessons from stuff that I have found online.  Its extremely helpful as it shows me on how to actually do stuff visually as sometimes stuff from books don't cut it too well for me :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: Jorge D. Fuentes on April 05, 2018, 04:40:58 PM
Not knowing where the stairs actually are stirs up all sorts of rustled jimmies from me.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack)
Post by: Sinis on April 06, 2018, 09:01:48 AM
Not knowing where the stairs actually are stirs up all sorts of rustled jimmies from me.


Stairs are probably going to be a thing in it as I'm gonna rebuild the project to accommodate this.



Scratch my previous words, I'm going to just go ahead with the 2A03 U.S version on both Legends NES and VoH 2.  No need to be selfish on my part so I'll finish stuff up though gonna work on those at a later date :)



I'm going to modify this message and let anyone willing to dig this far for this project read it.  I've cancelled Legends NES due to a lot of issues not being able to find anyone that can make an editor for Akumajou Densetsu.  I've recently inquired about getting someone to redo reVamp itself but got mod smacked.  I've also cancelled VoH 2 and VoH 3 due to these reasons as VoH 3 was going to be on Circle of the Moon.  All stuff relating to these projects will be used within Umbral Genesis.

I will no longer talk about Legends NES as I'm too irritated about it.  I'll use  my Sonia 8 bit sprite in something else.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack) [Revived]
Post by: Sinis on October 27, 2018, 05:42:45 PM
Necro-bumping my own thread.


Well, got some good news to share with the community.  This project is back on the table :)



An individual from the forums here (not using their name in case they don't want me to) has informed me that they know someone that can help out with making an Akumajou Densetsu editor.  Hoping in the future that I can get in contact with them so other features can be added though that's on the list for later and hopefully they are open to expanding the editor further to make it far superior to reVamp.  Seriously, there needs to be a newer program to do ROM hacks with since main majority of the others are old and/or outdated to where they are not updated that much anymore.


Anyway, back on track.  I'll be doing new sprites and everything for Legends NES since I did cannibalize some of them into Umbral, along with VoH 2, so when the time comes I'll post up something however I won't fully work on Legends NES until Umbral Genesis is 100% done so it could be up to half a year away depending on what bugs and glitches are ran in to.



So this leaves me in a spot.  I need someone or a group of people for volunteer work to help in making the VRC6 reference music for Legends NES and I'm not gonna lie, its a lot.  A lot of tracks need to be made still while others need to be redone some as nesfan is busy with Umbral Genesis soundtrack and can only work on that during the weekends.  I'm in a spot that I need someone, or a group of trusted individuals, that can  help me in modifying, creating and continuing work on the Legends NES soundtrack from a list that I have and, as said above, its a lot of work.  This also includes with testing around with Human voice converted over to VRC6 format for a few particular spots within the game.

Also need help with Vengeance on Hell II soundtrack as that is also in VRC6 though would like to put Legends NES more in front of the list.


I do have the FamiTracker sheets for both Legends NES and VoH II however I would like the fact that you would not share them with anyone except myself.  Whatever I post up over on my YouTube page and, in the future, website you will be credited for it along with in the game's credits section.


I know that I am asking a lot however I would like to find help, trustworthy help, that can volunteer in all of this.  I would love to have communication on a daily basis if possible because I've ran into people who tried to hold up work on my stuff, and Sephirous's CoA reboot, for ransom in wanting money to where they first agreed to volunteering to help.  Yeah...we've had people do that to us already.


So yeah, that's the gist of things.  Legends NES is back and in need of help with reference music done in FamiTracker so it can be used in the actual ROM itself.  Again, I have the FamiTracker sheet (done in the beta 5 version) so just need the help :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack) [Revived]
Post by: Inccubus on November 09, 2018, 07:45:40 AM
That would be beyond awesome!
My dream editor allows complete remapping of levels like the better Megaman editors out there.
It would also allow full editing of the map and paths, as well as rom expansion for additional stages.
Cherry on top would be a cut scene editor, a character editor, and a built-in hack to allow all partners to join and form a party.

Regardless, good luck on the Legends project!
It would be down right magical to have an NES port of that game.
(And maybe later on down the line it could be the basis for CVA and CVA2 hack as well?)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack) [Revived]
Post by: Sinis on November 13, 2018, 07:52:57 AM
Gonna try my best to have a NES port of the game with new stuff.  Still going to do the rope climbing in it  :)


Remapping the levels might be difficult as one would have to do all of the levels from scratch since things are kind of stacked on top of one another in an odd way.  Been trying to get programmers to step forward to help tear apart the Castlevania NES games to see about getting new programs out or at least new features added to the 10+ year old programs with new technology and features.  Trying to get stuff similar to the Metroid NES hacking scene as Metroid has a ton of things going for it.  There's some things I have on a list that I'd like to have placed within the ROM hacking community for both Akumajou Densetsu and Castlevania 3 to make things easier to hack with, just gotta find the people who are dedicated into doing this  :P
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack) [Revived]
Post by: X on November 13, 2018, 09:54:49 AM
It's cool to know that you decided to have both stairs and ropes in the game :D  The two will help to bring in interesting ways of challenges for the player to progress the stages.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack) [Revived]
Post by: Sinis on November 13, 2018, 11:03:41 AM
It's cool to know that you decided to have both stairs and ropes in the game :D  The two will help to bring in interesting ways of challenges for the player to progress the stages.


Would definitely be a milestone to get both working as I've come up with rooms to test one's determination and stamina check, all within reason of course since some rooms in the Castlevania games can be a load of BS to those not use to playing them all the time.  There is a fellow out there that did make a ROM hack that changed the ways the character interacts with the stairs by jumping onto them or dropping off like in the newer games so it would definitely add extra difficulty and creativity.  Just gotta wait patiently for the Akumajou Densetsu editor and the programmer to get to me :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (ROM Hack) [Revived]
Post by: Sinis on November 14, 2018, 06:02:03 PM
Aight, good news and its about the music!  The production towards the VRC6 soundtrack has continued thanks to Xyz :)



Sadly no news about the Akumajou Densetsu editor yet.  Trying to wait patiently for anything new let alone a chance to speak to the actual programmer who is looking into  making it through another person that contacted me about it :P



Still focusing on Umbral Genesis, the Castlevania 1 hack so no worries to those who are watching that one :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (Akumajou Densetsu Hack)
Post by: Sinis on September 02, 2019, 06:28:10 PM
Necro bumping my own post ;)



So, work has started in full swing towards Legends NES with no signs of stopping as almost all road bumps have been traversed over.  Right now a new one as risen up which relates to the compatibility issues between reVamp and Akumajou Densetsu.


Its a simple road bump but for me I don't know how to pass it.



Now, everyone knows that reVamp is meant for Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse right?  That's because the program was written around the MMC5 expansion port that Castlevania 3 uses.  Akumajou Densetsu uses the iNES Mapper 024, an advanced and modified MMC chip by Konami, that runs the Famicom game.  Both MMC chips are kind of similar since MMC5 is considered (loosely) as the American VRC6 however they function differently altogether.  There are two types of VRC6 chips though Akumajou Densetsu MUST rely on the iNES Mapper 024 to function properly.


The mystery has been solved as to why reVamp is not compatible with the game at all.  Sure it can modify stuff up to a point but different mappers with different functions get in the way.


Now a new hurdle has come forward.  reVamp is programmed in Visual Basic 6 and in need of someone to make an entirely new program, or modified, level editor for Akumajou Densetsu that is the exact of reVamp.  All efforts to reach out to +daniel+, its original creator, has failed so trying to get help from him is considered an absolute loss especially for the knowledge towards reVamp.  I thought that I had the source code for the program itself but turns out it was bogus.  Other numerous people have stepped forward and claimed to offer me help but got nothing but lies and laughed at.  Trying to reach out again openly online to find someone that is willing to help program, or modify, a level editor specifically for Akumajou Densetsu as I also want to try and have new features placed within the editor itself as well.  I know programming something like this will take a huge amount of time, and months, so I'm well aware of the possible development time that will go towards this effort.


Other efforts towards the project, Jorge himself has dedicated time towards the creation of the soundtrack in MIDI format along with Nesfan to eventually get around in making the VRC6 soundtrack however that will be a good long ways off as he's focusing on Cadence of Agony then soon followed by Umbral Genesis's soundtrack.  The previous fellow, Xyz, stopped contact with me earlier in the year so I consider him a loss plus I think they were after the soundtrack anyway with no intentions on helping.  Considered it more lies and deceit....just like the rest that have come and gone in offering 'help' towards the project.



That's where I'm at with Legends NES right now.  With what I have found I'm deeply hoping that someone can help out in all of this especially with the editor issue.  Not sure how long this road will be to traverse on but I will make sure nothing will be dropped ever again as that made me look untrustworthy in many ways.  No amount of apologies can recover from that blunder other than accepting it and moving on.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (Akumajou Densetsu Hack)
Post by: golpebaixo on September 03, 2019, 08:54:44 AM
Just modify Castlevania III then.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (Akumajou Densetsu Hack)
Post by: Sinis on September 03, 2019, 11:36:44 AM
Just modify Castlevania III then.

Easier said than done.  Besides, that's not the direction I want to take as it will require extra amounts of work to modify the U.S version for the Japanese one and since the Japanese one is just right there I see no reason as to why on going the extra steps in modifying the ROM.  The program, reVamp, needs to be modified by someone on who knows on what they're doing as it would be easier that way in the long run with less headaches involved.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (Akumajou Densetsu Hack)
Post by: golpebaixo on September 03, 2019, 02:26:43 PM
Nope. I don't see many people interested in NES romhacking, let alone someone dedicated enough to rebuild an editor for one single specific game, FROM SCRATCH.

Realistically speaking, it's just not happening. You'll have to either migrate to CVIII or drop the project altogether.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (Akumajou Densetsu Hack)
Post by: Sinis on September 03, 2019, 02:34:12 PM
Not on this forum though I know of some programmers around that could bring a huge help if they are interested in lending a hand hence why I posted up here.


Again, not the goal of what I'm doing.  Did that a few times, never again.  My mind is made up and that's that. 
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (Akumajou Densetsu Hack)
Post by: X on September 03, 2019, 05:34:21 PM
Quote
Again, not the goal of what I'm doing.  Did that a few times, never again.  My mind is made up and that's that.

Eventually someone or something will come along and help with your progress. Best to stick to your guns once your mind is made up. I wish you the best as I want to play this when it is ready  :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (Akumajou Densetsu Hack)
Post by: ProjectDread on September 03, 2019, 07:20:21 PM
I am a bit unfamiliar with the full scope of what you're doing with this project, but considering what you're asking wouldn't it be easier to just recreate the CVIII engine in Game Maker Studio or Clickteam Fusion? It's ironic but I actually think rebuilding the engine from scratch would be a more attainable goal. Plus, the NES Castlevania engines are incredibly simple. It probably wouldn't take too much time to develop if you had a guy who knows his way around game development software.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (Akumajou Densetsu Hack)
Post by: golpebaixo on September 03, 2019, 11:00:57 PM
I am a bit unfamiliar with the full scope of what you're doing with this project, but considering what you're asking wouldn't it be easier to just recreate the CVIII engine in Game Maker Studio or Clickteam Fusion? It's ironic but I actually think rebuilding the engine from scratch would be a more attainable goal. Plus, the NES Castlevania engines are incredibly simple. It probably wouldn't take too much time to develop if you had a guy who knows his way around game development software.
Yep, that's another viable alternative. He could probably go for a free alternative like GDevelop.
This demand for a new rom editing tool sounds to me like he expects someone else to do the hard work.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (Akumajou Densetsu Hack)
Post by: Sinis on September 04, 2019, 06:52:09 AM
This demand for a new rom editing tool sounds to me like he expects someone else to do the hard work.


I love reading statements like this as it shows me people aren't familiar on what I do as these little tidbits aren't true at all, like most other self assumption posts out there towards me.  Love stuff like this as it shows no one knows me at all 8)

I have other programmers willing to help create this with me alongside them with whatever spritework adjustments and what have you to be made towards the program as someone may not know how things are put together within the CHR data of the game.  I was going to explain this to whoever wanted to help out with the new program as there was a good sized team behind the original so the creator of the new/modified program will not be alone in this endeavor.


You made my morning and almost made me spit out my OJ.  Keep up this entertainment, golpebaixo, as its some good sauce  ;D






Anyway, to keep this thread back on its normal topic.  I am going to be keeping this thread updated more on Legends NES development since these discoveries were made.  Until level changes can be made in-depth I'll be doing just sprite work and simple color palette changes as I'm fearful of using reVamp on the Famicom version in case there are any irreversible changes made  :P
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (Akumajou Densetsu Hack)
Post by: BLOOD MONKEY on September 05, 2019, 08:42:36 PM
Anyway, to keep this thread back on its normal topic.  I am going to be keeping this thread updated more on Legends NES development since these discoveries were made.  Until level changes can be made in-depth I'll be doing just sprite work and simple color palette changes as I'm fearful of using reVamp on the Famicom version in case there are any irreversible changes made  :P

backups! backups for your backups! digital backups! physical backups! backups in the spirit world!
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (Akumajou Densetsu Hack)
Post by: Sinis on September 06, 2019, 06:53:44 AM
backups! backups for your backups! digital backups! physical backups! backups in the spirit world!


20 backups a day will keep the doctor away  ;D



I learned that the hard way years ago messing with VoH2.  I'll never go that route again and make backups in case something happens :P
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (Akumajou Densetsu Hack)
Post by: Sinis on September 08, 2019, 05:37:24 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7BmbruYN7Q (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7BmbruYN7Q)

Going to be making a blog series about Legends NES as I explain stuff within the video more over than what I can type out here.



Sad to say I am cutting my losses with VRC6 and going with something else that will be made for me next year as it sounds just as good as VRC6 in my opinion :)


-Insert Could Have Told You So Stereotype Response Here-



 ;D
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (Akumajou Densetsu Hack)
Post by: X on September 08, 2019, 09:18:04 PM
Quote
Sad to say I am cutting my losses with VRC6 and going with something else that will be made for me next year as it sounds just as good as VRC6 in my opinion :)

Would this be the NESmaker by any chance? I'm very interested in checking it out myself  :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (Akumajou Densetsu Hack)
Post by: Sinis on September 09, 2019, 06:18:45 AM
Would this be the NESmaker by any chance? I'm very interested in checking it out myself  :)


No, its not NES Maker :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (Akumajou Densetsu Hack)
Post by: Sinis on September 11, 2019, 08:16:00 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z4V4hwMEcU&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z4V4hwMEcU&feature=youtu.be)


Tidbits video that explains on what I'll be  using :)


To the lazy people that are allergic to clicking links.  Going to be using my future MMC5 sound engine from Umbral for Legends NES along with other stuff that I'll be making.  Due to how powerful and big MMC5 can be I'm definitely convinced this is the ideal chip to go with for projects to make them stand out within the crowd.  I hope those take this into consideration too :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES (Akumajou Densetsu Hack)
Post by: ProjectDread on October 05, 2019, 09:10:09 AM
The track in your video is sick, I'm a huge fan of hearing retro-esque sounds / synthesizers in modern music. You've got to work on that video quality though, man. The video is hard locked to 480p and below for me which is kind of insane this day and age. I'm not sure what you're using to record your screen, but I'd highly suggest checking out "Open Broadcaster Software (OBS Studio)". It's a free / open source software that's super useful for screen recording or live streaming. Honestly there's not much reason to use anything else, I use it for recording clips of my own game project and it works great.

Also, seeing the difficulty associated with finding a programmer to make a tool for hacking Akumajou Densetsu I'm going to again recommend looking into finding a guy who knows Game Maker Studio or Clickteam Fusion. The Castlevania 3 engine isn't at all complicated and anyone moderately familiar with said game engines could probably remake relatively easily.
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: Sinis on October 06, 2019, 04:20:26 PM
I'm aware of the video quality.  Not sure how to boost it up properly in Camtasia Studio as every time I attempt to make it that 720p, or whatever setting the highest is, the quality always goes back down which annoys the daylight out of me.


Got a link to this recording program?  Times I don't trust my own searching  methods :P


Forgot to reply to the CV3 comment.


The thing is.  If I can actually find someone that wants to do a project on the CV3 engine I would love to get its resources and make a game of that from scratch in the format of a Metroidvania type setting but for VoH 2 and utilize everything that MMC5 has to offer.  Not sure I'd put it on Game Maker and whatever else but actually programmed in the style of the NES so it can be played on NES emulators though dunno on how those programs you listed work as I'd like to stick to ROM hacking/editing and NES homebrews only.  I will have my own custom MMC5 sound engine next year for Umbral so I'm going to use that for all of my MMC5 ROM related hacks. 

I entirely gave up on the concept of VRC6 as people love to troll or ridicule me about that for some reason without fully knowing all of the details from what I've learned and before sharing said details.  At this point, VRC6 just isn't worth it anymore.  Was even willing to pay someone to do the VRC6 hacking/editing so stuff can be open to me and eventually the public.  My team is still standing by on the side if someone ever does come up but, again, pushed that idea to the side entirely.  Probably won't even believe anyone that will step up and offer actual help as I've been burned on it way too much these past 2 years.  So much drama I am thinking about writing a book on it, not gonna lie :P



Anyway, have to see on what happens after Umbral, Legends NES and now Bloodlust :)
Title: Re: Castlevania Legends NES
Post by: ProjectDread on October 07, 2019, 05:31:59 PM
Quote
I'm aware of the video quality.  Not sure how to boost it up properly in Camtasia Studio as every time I attempt to make it that 720p, or whatever setting the highest is, the quality always goes back down which annoys the daylight out of me.


Got a link to this recording program?  Times I don't trust my own searching  methods

Absolutely! As a man who once used Camtasia Studio myself, I can personally attest that after using OBS I'd never go back.
The software can be downloaded at https://obsproject.com/.

Quote
The thing is.  If I can actually find someone that wants to do a project on the CV3 engine I would love to get its resources and make a game of that from scratch in the format of a Metroidvania type setting but for VoH 2 and utilize everything that MMC5 has to offer.  Not sure I'd put it on Game Maker and whatever else but actually programmed in the style of the NES so it can be played on NES emulators though dunno on how those programs you listed work as I'd like to stick to ROM hacking/editing and NES homebrews only.  I will have my own custom MMC5 sound engine next year for Umbral so I'm going to use that for all of my MMC5 ROM related hacks.

I always thought the idea of the "full conversion" ROMHacks was really interesting as theoretically you could get your game to run on a modified NES Classic or something similar. If this is strictly what you're going for I can understand and respect that. After all, "Castltevania: Spectral Interlude" set out to do the same thing and that project looked to be a resounding success after it was released.

My main thought process was that if you used a modern game engine for development, you could still keep the nostalgic NES aesthetic intact but have more freedom to do other things like smooth parallax scrolling, improved character animations, lighting, custom controls, etc. that could really help the experience. Brave Earth: Prologue (https://youtu.be/ZLuxzIUOlD4) and Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (https://youtu.be/O1ywb6cQWQ8?t=20) are great examples of modern games designed around NES styling. Not trying to hijack your project or anything, just food for thought. I think no matter which route you choose your project has some awesome potential!  :)