Notable moment in life!

Yesterday I finally passed by driving test thanks to a generous instructor. I feel so relieved and accomplished. I had gone through some tough times to pass that test. The first time I took it was back in June and I didn't pass. Then I rescheduled an appointment and tried taking the test again. However, the brake lights weren't working so I had to reschedule again. After that, nobody could take me to the new appointment so I had to cancel it. Finally I made an appointment to a DMV in Riverside, which is like an hour drive where I finally passed! Finally!

Today I drove myself to school for the first time. It felt strange making the entire trip alone. On my way home, I stopped by the local Walmart which has been wonderfully renovated. It also felt strange going into a large store and buying something alone. These are things I am going to have to get used to. It feels so independent and I like it!

Megaman Network Transmission files

I got a hold of the ISO for Megaman Network Transmission and took a peek inside the game's files. The only files I could open were the THP video files. There was also some .pic files I could open with a Photoshop plugin. Some folders also contained the "RockmanPicConv.exe" file along with .bat files. There is a THP video player which I used to see all of the game's cutscenes. Too bad I couldn't record them since the recording quality always came out choppy. The Zero scene is awesome.

All of the game's text is uncompressed so I could see all the dialog. They keep everything organized by using <> brackets to isolate message box effects. It's like using scripts. They could use for a new line. for a message that lets you exit a choice selection. for selections. It seems a lot more organized. There weren't any debug scripts I could find but there were some messages that seemed to relate to them. They might belong to a menu since they don't do anything if they're placed in <> brackets.

The messages were:
movie test layer
motion test
sound test
chip spply test
(1-1)net
(1-3)mail
(2-2)dekao
(3-1)yaito
(4-1)eki
(5-1)suido
(8-1)hatuden
(6-1)bus
(7-1)game
(14-1)galtukou
area select
message test

They seem like they belong on a debug menu. It's also interesting to note that "supply" is actually misspelled like that. I assume that's all chips.

Another background

I made another background again. I finally decided to make Photoshop brushes that would improve my technique. With simple distortions and circuitboard patterns, I could make this awesome new tech background.

They always look overly complicated and I know I can never stop there. It's all about trying and improving. Never stop trying.

New Inkscape tutorial

I wrote an Inkscape tutorial I've been meaning to finish. It's a tutorial for a quick 3D text tutorial. I figured out that the best way to make a line is by two points, not millions of points to simulate a line. It's logical and easy.

See it at the Inkscape Forum.

This also works in Adobe Illustrator using the equivalent tools. Fancying it up is also what made me try to achieve the effects used in the current Megaman logo.

Awesome

I made that over the past 2 days. It's part of a personal project. That's it.

Mega Rock Patch v3

Yes. That was my project all along! I had been working on my latest patch. This time, rather than editing the old version, which was corrupted in several places, I dumped my own rom and began making edits. There are a few more edits this time and it's still a work in progress. Right now, I've released some betas so I can get feedback. But it looks all right. Thanks to Greiga Master and Prof. 9, I could add some hacks that would otherwise be impossible.

The picture you see above is the new title screen I added. I decided not to remake the entire logo and just make a new background. Simple because linear gradients make bad backgrounds.

New chips have been added to the Library; either converted or new. I'm still figuring out a legitimate way for the chips to be obtained. The patch is still supposed to conserve the qualities of the original game.

I will post new updates when I can work on it more. It's going to be awesome.

Weekly post

It's really starting to look like that. I only have time for one post per week. College life requires commitment. It's almost midterms! I think the most unusual thing this week was my color theory homework. My homework is to watch 3 movies and observe their use of color. Sounds kind of tricky but I hope I do well on it.

In hacking news, I know I said a beta would be out soon, but it's been really difficult to put things together. I keep saying "maybe tomorrow" and it never happens. Well, maybe tomorrow.

Another week with few things

This week, I'm at least keeping up with my homework assignments. If I keep this up, this lifestyle will be totally manageable.

Anyways, I'm still working on this hack. It's taken much longer than I thought it would. I'm still planning for something bigger. Soon, I'm going to have a select few people try out a beta. It's taken so long because most of the hacks I want to do have no program is GM is being lazy and selfish about doing anything.

Also, it turns out The Undersquare has returned in a way. I have an email about it. There's almost no evidence that it was a Megaman fansite at one point now. Either they merged with another site, or they've been secretly fascinated with Runescape hacking and phishing all this time. Either way, I knew there was something suspicious with them and I never really like TUS. This new forum they have does not interest me at all and I hope their forum gets removed someday. Nobody likes it when accounts get hacked and information is stolen.