Visual Pinball > Help

Can roms be opened, read, and corrected?

(1/2) > >>

GSGregg:
I got interested in this because of crash2013's thread about Powerfield jackpots not being scored in Twilight Zone. After finding absolutely nothing in the table script regarding score values or the conditions under which they're awarded, I saw a comment by Itchigo about the rom being the culprit, and I agree.

Trying to open the rom, however, gives me the message box, "Windows cannot open this file", and Wdos doesn't find the program that created it. If it did, though, what would I find once I opened it---some assembly language I know even less than nothing about? And, wouldn't a commercially produced product like this be password-protected or something?

I'm sure glad cocktails were invented. Join me?  :Downapint:

Itchigo:
Roms are not something I know about. I know there is a program called M1 that will extract sounds from roms, but I don't think they can be corrected.

GSGregg:
I had a real brainstorm; do a search and read about opening roms! (Damn---what a concept!) After scanning over 100 dizzying search results, I settled on Wikipedia's Rom Image(s?) article, and saw a term I've read before; DUMP (not associated with anything porcelain). Duh.....

So, this will put the rom's content (image) on your computer.....but I don't know whether it facilitates reading said image, let alone accessing/modifying/correcting. And for copy protection, the rom could well be full of spiders, for all I know. :Cussing:

Cheers!

Itchigo:
Sorry I missed this. As far as I know, if there's an error in a rom, it can't be changed. So, unless someone makes a vp version of it (no roms), we're stuck with whatever problem there is.  That is no easy task. Everything in that rom would have to coded into the script manually.

Pintrepid:

--- Quote from: Itchigo on November 16, 2013, 08:18:23 AM ---Sorry I missed this. As far as I know, if there's an error in a rom, it can't be changed. So, unless someone makes a vp version of it (no roms), we're stuck with whatever problem there is.  That is no easy task. Everything in that rom would have to coded into the script manually.

--- End quote ---

In the case of some tables, at least in regards to actual game sounds, I think that might be better to script manually instead of using the ROMs.

In particular, Williams tables that use the L1 ROMs have what I call a "digital fart" instead of a game sound; makes the table sound very cheesy. Yes, these are Williams' first SS tables. But I wish the sound were emulated better. Some of the worse ones are Disco Fever, Pokerino & Phoenix, but also Contact, World Cup & Stellar Wars.

Also, most Atari VP tables that use ROMs have a common PinMAME version where the game sounds are similar across multiple tables. They sound distinctively different from the arcade games, and do not emulate them realistically. I understand this is because of difficulties with the Atari sound cards, which were analog, not digital.

There are several of the Atari tables available at IRPinball that do not use ROMs. They use alternate sounds which were imported into the Sound Manager. I've replaced these sounds to some degree with "more authentic" Atari sounds ... but the process is tedious. It requires more precise scripting to achieve a better sounding recreation of the original.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page