3 ms·

Reverse-engineering the Final Fantasy: Theatrhythm track format

91 points by mpiroot 5y ago

backspace_ 5y ago
What a superfluous story to not say he went and downloaded the game and bootroom.
- lnanek2 5y ago
  Was kind of strange making up the crow dropped a USB stick lie. I assume he can't say he pirated it because the article would get taken down with a DMCA notice, but I would have preferred he just not mention how he got it. There was interesting content there about reverse engineering the game data format.
  - asutekku 5y ago
    You're correct in that it was an obvious joke like because of course they can't tell they illegally downloaded the game, or they would soon be getting an DMCA takedown. But they were just taking the piss out of the ones issuing these takedowns as with the "Crow dropped the stick" explanation there's nothing they could base their action on.
    - backspace_ 5y ago
      Are you saying he would get a DMCA notice if sayed that he downloaded the game and bottom, but not for his script that he offers that alters the original game?
      - theamk 5y ago
        His script has no copyrighted contents, nor routines which deal with protection circumvention (encryption/decryption of the ROM) so I don't see why DMCA would be concerned with the post as written. Now, if the post were to say "the cartridge was protected, so I used hardware X to dump it, and software Y to decrypt it, here are instructions" that'd be circumvention description and thus subject to DMCA. (disclaimer: I am not a lawyer)
  - Y_Y 5y ago
    It seems like a euphemism akin to "it fell off the back of a truck".
- gwbas1c 5y ago
  Well, it's a good way to call attention to the folly of DRM and draconian copyright without taking a political tone.
jchw 5y ago
Not a whole lot of comments on this one, but to be expected I suppose, given the degree of niche it is. I enjoyed it, it reminded me of my early days of hacking video game stuff, which practically began with Nintendo DS stuff, including some LZ77 variants that were, at least at the time, not documented or implemented anywhere. If you’ve never engaged in this kind of reverse engineering, I’d recommend it. It’s fun. It feels a lot like sorcery once you succeed, and that can be pretty rewarding.
iamevn 5y ago
I wonder how much of this format the arcade games share. they recently axed the official servers for the arcade machines so they've been making their way to the secondary market more. Porting over songs from 3DS to arcade or visa versa would be interesting
- mpiroot 5y ago
  Looking at gameplay videos of the arcade game, there is at least one addition not present in the 3DS iteration: multiple touch notes that you need to hit at the same time. The 3DS format should be able to represent that, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were subtly different. There was also a (now defunct) iOS game, which notably had a "Compose Scores" mode to edit your own tracks (though you couldn't change the BGM). I would be curious to see what the editor interface looked like.

91 points by mpiroot 5y ago

backspace_ 5y ago

What a superfluous story to not say he went and downloaded the game and bootroom.

lnanek2 5y ago
Was kind of strange making up the crow dropped a USB stick lie. I assume he can't say he pirated it because the article would get taken down with a DMCA notice, but I would have preferred he just not mention how he got it. There was interesting content there about reverse engineering the game data format.
- asutekku 5y ago
  You're correct in that it was an obvious joke like because of course they can't tell they illegally downloaded the game, or they would soon be getting an DMCA takedown. But they were just taking the piss out of the ones issuing these takedowns as with the "Crow dropped the stick" explanation there's nothing they could base their action on.
  - backspace_ 5y ago
    Are you saying he would get a DMCA notice if sayed that he downloaded the game and bottom, but not for his script that he offers that alters the original game?
    - theamk 5y ago
      His script has no copyrighted contents, nor routines which deal with protection circumvention (encryption/decryption of the ROM) so I don't see why DMCA would be concerned with the post as written. Now, if the post were to say "the cartridge was protected, so I used hardware X to dump it, and software Y to decrypt it, here are instructions" that'd be circumvention description and thus subject to DMCA. (disclaimer: I am not a lawyer)
- Y_Y 5y ago
  It seems like a euphemism akin to "it fell off the back of a truck".
gwbas1c 5y ago
Well, it's a good way to call attention to the folly of DRM and draconian copyright without taking a political tone.

jchw 5y ago

Not a whole lot of comments on this one, but to be expected I suppose, given the degree of niche it is. I enjoyed it, it reminded me of my early days of hacking video game stuff, which practically began with Nintendo DS stuff, including some LZ77 variants that were, at least at the time, not documented or implemented anywhere. If you’ve never engaged in this kind of reverse engineering, I’d recommend it. It’s fun. It feels a lot like sorcery once you succeed, and that can be pretty rewarding.

iamevn 5y ago

I wonder how much of this format the arcade games share. they recently axed the official servers for the arcade machines so they've been making their way to the secondary market more. Porting over songs from 3DS to arcade or visa versa would be interesting

mpiroot 5y ago
Looking at gameplay videos of the arcade game, there is at least one addition not present in the 3DS iteration: multiple touch notes that you need to hit at the same time. The 3DS format should be able to represent that, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were subtly different. There was also a (now defunct) iOS game, which notably had a "Compose Scores" mode to edit your own tracks (though you couldn't change the BGM). I would be curious to see what the editor interface looked like.