MBAACC Boss Rush Mode Hack

[Erkz]

While it might not be as amazing as a better netplay client or spiffy launcherconfigurator, I've been working on my own useless little projects. 

This is basically a hack that puts as much of the Boss Rush Mode from the PS2 version of MBAA as possible back into the PC version of MBAACC, so you can relive the suffering again. Or live it anew with Fully Armed Ciel and True Ancestor Arcueid. I don't care either way, so long as people have fun with it. 

Released! See below for download links!

Screenshots:

Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3
Screenshot 4

Video:
Demonstration Video
Release Video

Downloads:
Latest Release: Download! [ 24 / 04 / 2016]
- Fixes the crash with Hisui and Kohaku that was happening for two years and apparently no one caught that? lol

Older Releases:
[ 21 / 04 / 2014 ] Mirror!

[koorimusha]

I'm actually quite fascinated and curious. Tell me, are the Boss Rush files already present in Current Code? Which I'm pretty sure it is, as how you got Eclipse Aoko, Riesbyfe, whomever else.

Let me ask some more questions. Exactly what kind of tools do you use for this? Or are you perhaps a really hardcore programmer and make your own tools with C and program whatever you want in the game? Props to you, if you can.

On that same note, how possible or impossible would it be to add content to the game that originally wasn't there? I know this is a PS2 port for the most part, so I can see how a boss rush mode can be added. But what if it was something that was never put in there? Like, oh I don't know. Let's just say something like uhhh... CHALLENGE MODE maybe? Just a little arbitrary thought there... *cough*

Heh, in all seriousness. I look forward to this hack. I always felt that MBAACC could have had much more. In a way, the PS2 version and Act Cadenza had more. Who else missed things like Boss Rush and Team Battles? It's not like having them made the game worse, did they just not decide to program it? But whatever the case, I don't see this as pointless. It's adding things to the game that should actually have been there in the first place.

[Erkz]

I'm actually quite fascinated and curious. Tell me, are the Boss Rush files already present in Current Code? Which I'm pretty sure it is, as how you got Eclipse Aoko, Riesbyfe, whomever else.

A lot of them, yes.

Let me ask some more questions. Exactly what kind of tools do you use for this? Or are you perhaps a really hardcore programmer and make your own tools with C and program whatever you want in the game? Props to you, if you can.

Uh, as far as tools go, I use an x86 disassembler, a hex editor, an image editor and a text editor? I wish I was a hardcore programmer, lol, but I guess if I really needed to, I could make tools to help me do things, though I haven't really needed to. Also there are pretty hard limits to what I can add to the game, haha.

On that same note, how possible or impossible would it be to add content to the game that originally wasn't there? I know this is a PS2 port for the most part, so I can see how a boss rush mode can be added. But what if it was something that was never put in there? Like, oh I don't know. Let's just say something like uhhh... CHALLENGE MODE maybe? Just a little arbitrary thought there... *cough*

That sounds like it'd be a neat addition, but it's easily something impossible for me to do due to being outside the scope of my abilities, haha.

Heh, in all seriousness. I look forward to this hack. I always felt that MBAACC could have had much more. In a way, the PS2 version and Act Cadenza had more. Who else missed things like Boss Rush and Team Battles? It's not like having them made the game worse, did they just not decide to program it? But whatever the case, I don't see this as pointless. It's adding things to the game that should actually have been there in the first place.

Thanks. And yeah. Seeing those things returning would have been great. I think it's just bad luck that those features didn't make it though. There's references to game modes and characters that didn't make it into the final version, so I'm guessing that French Bread did originally plan to add them, but then Type-Moon asked them to make the PC port in time for the Carnival Phantasm BD release, so they decided to cut the unnecessary modes and just focus on essential things like netplay. Afterwards, they went full steam ahead on UNIB, only really patching game-breaking bugs in MBAA. And now that they're trying to juggle DFC and UNIB [with UNIB apparently currently losing out to DFC], they likely have no time or resources to devote to MBAACC. In fact, if I remember correctly, they're hiring again, which means they don't even have enough to work on both UNIB and DFC right now.

*sigh*

At least there are crazy fans to do crazy things.

[Erkz]

Sorry about the double post, but the mod is now released. 

See the first post for details.

[abitofBaileys]

Awesome shit, Erkz! I am already shedding tears over facing E-KohaMech again.

[Erkz]

Awesome shit, Erkz! I am already shedding tears over facing E-KohaMech again.

Hahaha... yeah, fighting E-KohaMech is suffering. 



Also, mirror added to first post. Not sure how much strain puush can take, so I thought it'd be wise to have a secondary link just in case it goes down.

[Dipstick]

Also, mirror added to first post. Not sure how much strain puush can take, so I thought it'd be wise to have a secondary link just in case it goes down.

Is this a final build? I can just host it locally on the site, forget flaky-ass download sites where links disappear after 43 minutes.

[Erkz]

I'm hesitant to call it a final build - I've only just released it and, from experience, this tends to be when random major issues that need to be fixed tend to crop up, so... yeah.

Despite that, I wouldn't say no to another mirror. But maybe wait a couple days first?

[jellyheaven]

I'm hesitant to call it a final build - I've only just released it and, from experience, this tends to be when random major issues that need to be fixed tend to crop up, so... yeah.

Despite that, I wouldn't say no to another mirror. But maybe wait a couple days first?

Since you are in the hack/edit business I wanted to know if you could search for a way to enable real arcade mode (with coins, time limit, etc.) coz I found some files relevant to that (ringwide logo, coin sound fx). It is possible?

[Erkz]

Since you are in the hack/edit business I wanted to know if you could search for a way to enable real arcade mode (with coins, time limit, etc.) coz I found some files relevant to that (ringwide logo, coin sound fx). It is possible?

I can look into it... Not sure how well it would work even if it's re-enabled though: I don't think there's a coin button - so you wouldn't be able to play it.

Also for debug/arcade config menus, those are probably removed. They were still in one of the demos though, I think the first couple still had it. So you wouldn't be able to do book keeping either.

Can I ask why you'd want something like that re-enabled though?

[jellyheaven]

Since you are in the hack/edit business I wanted to know if you could search for a way to enable real arcade mode (with coins, time limit, etc.) coz I found some files relevant to that (ringwide logo, coin sound fx). It is possible?

I can look into it... Not sure how well it would work even if it's re-enabled though: I don't think there's a coin button - so you wouldn't be able to play it.

Also for debug/arcade config menus, those are probably removed. They were still in one of the demos though, I think the first couple still had it. So you wouldn't be able to do book keeping either.

Can I ask why you'd want something like that re-enabled though?

Im building a cabinet and I would love that feature. If you can make it work please tell me. There's probably a way to remap the coin button outside the launcher, like keyboard configs do. Some unused input must work for that in some file since coins works with the same mechanism (like buttons).

[UltraOmega500]

Hi Erkz.

Your Boss Rush Hack was greatly good. Congratulations to you Erkz. I would suggest a few things, like the ability to put that Boss Rush mode as a 'game mode' usually to be selected along with the Arcade, Versus, Training and Network modes as standard. Here's a picture assembled by Photoshop to show how it should look:



Another thing that could be better is to find a way to enable G-Akiha and Dust of Osiris bosses as playable characters. See this photo montage here:



But not only them, but also the Boss Rush versions of Warachia, Arima Miyako, White Len, Aozaki Aoko, Koha & Mech, Dust of Osiris, Ryougi Shiki, Tohno Akiha and Archetype:Earth (PS2 version), all with their styles fighting in Eclipse Style always available for selection (except Akiha that uses a special version of Half-Moon Style) and choosing them by simply going to the corresponding character, holding the Shield button, that is the button "D" and selecting the character. The Eclipse Style will appeared at the time the Style Moon selection screen appear, indicate that the code would work.

Exactly like in Melty Blood Act Cadenza PC when needed to choose Neco-Arc Chaos to play with him.

And lastly, find a way to put the "Eclipse Style" for all characters in the game, allowing you to choose the Eclipse Style after selecting the character and if possible, put all the movelist of three other moon styles of characters (but without removing new ones that may be included ) and edit them a bit the "cpf" files to let the characters using this style of play a little bit even more difficult than normal.

Well, those are my suggestions. Be free to comment and tell me what you and his friends think of these ideas.

[Erkz]

Im building a cabinet and I would love that feature. If you can make it work please tell me. There's probably a way to remap the coin button outside the launcher, like keyboard configs do. Some unused input must work for that in some file since coins works with the same mechanism (like buttons).

I looked into it and it seems like doing something like that is outside the scope of my abilities. The necessary work required to do it is more akin to 'rebuilding' than 're-enabling'. Sorry.

Hi Erkz.

Your Boss Rush Hack was greatly good. Congratulations to you Erkz. I would suggest a few things, like the ability to put that Boss Rush mode as a 'game mode' usually to be selected along with the Arcade, Versus, Training and Network modes as standard. Here's a picture assembled by Photoshop to show how it should look:

*snip*

Thanks. Also this was what I was originally planning to do. However, while I can make it appear in the menu, I cannot make it selectable nor can I force the game to treat that as a separate mode.

This is why I chose to do this mod the way I did.

Another thing that could be better is to find a way to enable G-Akiha and Dust of Osiris bosses as playable characters. See this photo montage here:

*snip*

But not only them, but also the Boss Rush versions of Warachia, Arima Miyako, White Len, Aozaki Aoko, Koha & Mech, Dust of Osiris, Ryougi Shiki, Tohno Akiha and Archetype:Earth (PS2 version), all with their styles fighting in Eclipse Style always available for selection (except Akiha that uses a special version of Half-Moon Style) and choosing them by simply going to the corresponding character, holding the Shield button, that is the button "D" and selecting the character. The Eclipse Style will appeared at the time the Style Moon selection screen appear, indicate that the code would work.

Exactly like in Melty Blood Act Cadenza PC when needed to choose Neco-Arc Chaos to play with him.

And lastly, find a way to put the "Eclipse Style" for all characters in the game, allowing you to choose the Eclipse Style after selecting the character and if possible, put all the movelist of three other moon styles of characters (but without removing new ones that may be included ) and edit them a bit the "cpf" files to let the characters using this style of play a little bit even more difficult than normal.

Well, those are my suggestions. Be free to comment and tell me what you and his friends think of these ideas.

Those seem like interesting ideas, I suppose, but they don't seem like things I'd be personally interested in doing. IIRC there's a trainer that does most of that already, anyway. On that note, there was a topic about a file that someone found called "comedit" a while back - that was the program made to edit those CPF files. So effectively, almost everything you want to do is already possible?

[UltraOmega500]

Hi friend.

I need an explanation of certain types of files found in the folder "data" Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code to make edits and what programs are recommended to make those edits, extract and repack this files.

Here is the link about the files and their extensions.

File type *.cg
File type *.cpf
File type *.HA6
File type *.LST
File type *.pal
File type *.wmt
File type *.ct

[UltraOmega500]

Hi

I did some changes in some of the texts of files to apply the most special moves to be used by Eclipse Style versions of a good portion of the characters in mbaacc, by using some original files from the PS2 versions.

link: puu.sh/8wDFC.zip

Feel free.

PS: Erkz, I need help to know what commands are not working well. Please Correct when you have time, yes?

[Erkz]

Hi friend.

I need an explanation of certain types of files found in the folder "data" Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code to make edits and what programs are recommended to make those edits, extract and repack this files.

Here is the link about the files and their extensions.

File type *.cg
File type *.cpf
File type *.HA6
File type *.LST
File type *.pal
File type *.wmt
File type *.ct

.cg - Sprite/Image packages. Not sure what you could edit this with - you'd most likely have to find a way to convert it to something usable. I know framedisplay can rip them, but I'm not sure about repacking.

.cpf - use comedit. no extracting/repacking needed.

.ha6 - hantei v6 animation file. stores animation data. I don't think it's compatible with the hantei4 program, so you're on your own for this one.

.lst - a list of images or something maybe? I'm not entirely sure what it's for.

.pal - palette files. there's like... 40 palettes per file [each character has unused ones - usually repeats of the last one]. They're in either 32bit RGBA format or BGRA - I can't remember which. Not sure what you can edit this with, though.

.wmt - these I think have something do with win quotes? not entirely sure what, though.

.ct - some kind of table. in MBAC this is the format that the character select screen was stored in, but I have no idea what they're using it for in MBAACC.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful; but it's not like I can go ask FB what each of these do, haha.

Hi

I did some changes in some of the texts of files to apply the most special moves to be used by Eclipse Style versions of a good portion of the characters in mbaacc, by using some original files from the PS2 versions.

link: puu.sh/8wDFC.zip

Feel free.

PS: Erkz, I need help to know what commands are not working well. Please Correct when you have time, yes?

Cool, you're making your own mods for MB. But maybe you should make your own topic - it'd give you more exposure and more people would see it.

[UltraOmega500]

There is problem in your mod! When you open the executable "MBAABR.exe" and get to the part where the screen "vs. Demo" should appear to start the fight, the game crashes at the same time and not resumed. So I had to make a backup of "MBAA.exe" in a folder, rename the "MBAABR.exe" to "MBAA.exe" and so the game can continue normally, allowing for even operate the trainer to activate the characters of boss rush type.

Well, that's the only problem found in your mod. The rest is only graphical things.

[Erkz]

There is problem in your mod! When you open the executable "MBAABR.exe" and get to the part where the screen "vs. Demo" should appear to start the fight, the game crashes at the same time and not resumed. So I had to make a backup of "MBAA.exe" in a folder, rename the "MBAABR.exe" to "MBAA.exe" and so the game can continue normally, allowing for even operate the trainer to activate the characters of boss rush type.

Well, that's the only problem found in your mod. The rest is only graphical things.

"vs demo"? You mean the screen where the two characters and their names/movesets, etc flash before a battle? This hasn't happened before to either me or my testers. While I'm glad that you found a way to resolve it [though I don't see how what you did does], can you tell me a couple things?

1] Are you using a clean install of MBAACC for it?
2] Is your installation of MBAACC modified in any way?
3] When/How does the crash happen? Against which enemy? Please give me as many details as you can.

Also what graphical problems are you encountering? Are they the same ones mentioned in the readme? If not, please also post about them here.

[UltraOmega500]

Well friend. For starters, I tried to do this with a clean install of MBAACC and has started giving this problem right away. In every time you try to enter normally, the screen'' Vs. demo'' would not appear at all and the game crashes shortly dai, failed to even close the program normally.

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvkIl4-mQro&list=UUlbBSopOSlWAPG8w70m5u2Q

What is nwe mod "Hologram Summer Encore" friend? It is the restoration of the story mode of first Melty Blood?

[Erkz]

Well friend. For starters, I tried to do this with a clean install of MBAACC and has started giving this problem right away. In every time you try to enter normally, the screen'' Vs. demo'' would not appear at all and the game crashes shortly dai, failed to even close the program normally.

Try as I might, I can't replicate your crashes. Is there any other information you can give me? Maybe a detailed outline of what leads to the crash?

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvkIl4-mQro&list=UUlbBSopOSlWAPG8w70m5u2Q

What is nwe mod "Hologram Summer Encore" friend? It is the restoration of the story mode of first Melty Blood?

Maybe.

[finiteBytes]

First off, hello everyone, new to the forums.

Second, I'm interested in doing some translation work for the arcade mode/win quotes. How would I go about accessing the data files? Looking in the install, the "dat" folder has some loose ".d" files, and the actual game .exe contains a bunch of random files with no extensions, and I'm not quite sure where to start looking.

[Erkz]

First off, hello everyone, new to the forums.

Second, I'm interested in doing some translation work for the arcade mode/win quotes. How would I go about accessing the data files? Looking in the install, the "dat" folder has some loose ".d" files, and the actual game .exe contains a bunch of random files with no extensions, and I'm not quite sure where to start looking.

You'd need to find a way to extract the xxxx.p files in the folder. The dat folder's ".d" files are literally .dat movies. And there aren't many strings in the exe aside from menus and whatnot.

Your best bet would probably be to check out mirrormoon, the people currently working on translating MBAACC. You can probably go to their forums [or IRC? can't remember if they have one] and talk to Archdemon who is the current head of their MB project.

[UltraOmega500]

link for mbaa 000x.p extractor + trainers friend: http://www.mediafire.com/download/p23hfvayiovghbg/mbaacc+trainers+%2B+p+files+extractor.zip

[UltraOmega500]

Ask for 'mauve' if he can make an extractor file *. P for games Melty Blood Melty Blood Re-ACT Melty Blood Act Cadenza and PC. He has made ​​the extractor to Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code and now only missing those three games.

[Dipstick]

Ask for 'mauve' if he can make an extractor file *. P for games Melty Blood Melty Blood Re-ACT Melty Blood Act Cadenza and PC. He has made ​​the extractor to Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code and now only missing those three games.

I don't want to speak directly for him, but I'm about 99% certain mauve isn't touching this stuff anymore as he's a full-fledged Indie Game Developer(tm) now. However, I'm pretty sure there was something for MBAC PC -- I know the file format was broken down and there was an extractor/injector for the music, at the very least.