Shenmue Dojo

Switch wrote:

Radar wrote: kind of stuck in hex replacement stage, In gdi image, in which file to search&replace? I tried all files but no results were returned. I found reversed one, but it didn't seem to change anything

Thanks for trying it out! Ok, seems there may be some difference with gdi image as I've been using a cdi image (NTSC) for my testing. I'll take a look at it.

Yeah, its probably that, or I screwed up somewhere

Just no words for this Switch. Sensational work!!! I will be firing up the PC today so I will give it a whirl and see how it goes. I'm already getting that huge nostalgia trip just by looking at the photos!!!!

Peter wrote:I will be firing up the PC today so I will give it a whirl and see how it goes. I'm already getting that huge nostalgia trip just by looking at the photos!!!!

Excellent! PM me if you need any help with it.

Just a couple of notes on the current status:

- For now the patch has been confirmed only for the NTSC Shenmue Passport, on a CDI disc image.
- It appears that the PAL Shenmue Passport has slightly different code. I am working on a patch for the PAL version which I hope to have ready soon.

I have downloaded what I think is a NTSC copy and opened the GDI in 2 different hex editors but when I run a search it doesn't find the hex sequence. I presume it's just a case of opening the GDI in the software and running a search from there?

b_ren wrote: I have downloaded what I think is a NTSC copy and opened the GDI in 2 different hex editors but when I run a search it doesn't find the hex sequence. I presume it's just a case of opening the GDI in the software and running a search from there?

Radar reported something similar earlier, and I checked it today and can clarify that this patch can't be applied directly to a GDI image of the disc.

It should be applied to either a CDI or MDF image of the Passport disc (currently NTSC only, with a PAL patch to follow shortly).

Further Update:

I've updated the patch instructions in the post to cover the PAL version as well as NTSC.

Switch wrote:I've updated the patch instructions in the post to cover the PAL version as well as NTSC.

Awesome! it seems that patch works with gdi after all, it has to be applied to track07.bin file.
from what I tested animals trading fully works , and that detailed stats is amazing!

Radar wrote:

Switch wrote:I've updated the patch instructions in the post to cover the PAL version as well as NTSC.

Awesome! it seems that patch works with gdi after all, it has to be applied to track07.bin file.
from what I tested animals trading fully works , and that detailed stats is amazing!

That's excellent!

Thanks for the information on updating a GDI, I'll make a note of that in the blog.

I got a chance to try it out myself now and it's really the biggest convenience one can think of to just be able to access the game relevant features. I will definately check the weather, cat and statistics every now and then on my next proper playthrough, something I can't even remember if I ever did right.

It's already mentioned in the blog post but some of the features that need an online connection to access data really don't work here. It's not like much is missing here, basically just text boxes saying something like "the data cannot be retrieved" but it's still odd that the Online Manual doesn't even allow you to move the cursor and some screens require a soft reset.

Don't know if this could be improved by refining the hack but it's not too big of a deal as the text behind it is lost forever anyway. At least until a rerelease arrived and they do include the Passport.

Radar wrote:and that detailed stats is amazing!

I know, right? Games love to do that nowadays but back then this was just mind blowing. The amount of values stored in there is still virtually unmatched to this day. No wonder the save files take so much space on the VMU.

By the way, never noticed this typo before.

BlueMue wrote:it's still odd that the Online Manual doesn't even allow you to move the cursor and some screens require a soft reset.

Yes, it would be nice to get the navigation working / freezing fixed in these spots.

BlueMue wrote:By the way, never noticed this typo before.

Huh, me neither. I had to look twice to find it, even with your screen capture!

This topic sent me down a road of nostalgia.

A little off topic but I found this video of Phantasy Star online and it's funny to remember how new online gaming was to a lot of people back then.



Wish I had a chance to play or use the online functionality at the time but I was just too young and pocket money wasn't enough to pay for the dial up costs.

So b_ren, were you able to successfully patch your GDI image (track07.bin)?

I've made an easy patch for the PAL GDI version that contains the widescreen fix by Esspiral in addition to this fix, so you can apply both fixes without manually editing any files.

To apply the patch:

1- Download this zip file and extract it.
2- Copy track07.bin from your PAL Shenmue Passport GDI disc into the "Passport" folder you'll find when you extracted the zip file.
3- Run patch.bat.
4- Copy track07.bin file from "Passport\Fixed" folder back into the GDI folder of the Passport disc.
5- Enjoy the extra content in widescreen.

I don't have the widescreen fix code for the US version, so if Esspiral can dig it up, I'll provide an easy patch for the US GDI version as well if needed.

Thanks Switch for this great finding.

Switch wrote: So b_ren, were you able to successfully patch your GDI image (track07.bin)?

Just got around to checking this and can confirm all works okay!

b_ren wrote:

Switch wrote: So b_ren, were you able to successfully patch your GDI image (track07.bin)?

Just got around to checking this and can confirm all works okay!

Great!

P.S. BlueMue, maybe we could update the thread title to reflect the progress?

Phenomenal work Switch. My mind is truly blown. Wow.

I'll be testing this out when i get a day off. Super excited to do so.

Great work.