Dr. Mario 64: unQue Mario Yisheng

"Mario Yisheng", aka "Dr. Mario 64" in other regions, uses emulated EEPROM on iQue. After patching the iQue title, hardware EEPROM is supported on retail N64s. It also corrects alpha on one image and replaces blackface Octo on the select menu to be consistent with the pink palette used throughout the rest of the game.

The patched ROM expects either 4k or 16k EEPROM on its board; CIC is 6102. Up to four controllers are supported.

Apply the xdelta patch using the similarly named xdelta; use version 3.0.8 or up. The patch will only apply to a *decrypted* ROM in native (big-endian) byteorder.

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This unQue patch series is directed at restoring save support and reversing library changes in iQue titles so they function reliably on retail consoles and a wider range of emulators--at the expense of breaking iQue support.

.: Introduction :.
This unQue patch series is directed at restoring save support and reversing library changes in iQue titles so they function reliably on retail consoles and a wider range of emulators--at the expense of breaking iQue support.
For the sake of emulators/flashcarts that look at GUID codes to differentiate these patches from retail titles, a GUID and timestamp were added. The device type is set to "B" for "BB Player" (not "Q"), and region to "C" for China or "W" for Taiwan/Hong Kong. Internal names are encoded using codepage 936 (normally CP 932). This information is not used by console. Bootstraps (IPL3) are swapped to match their retail counterparts; iQue does not, in fact, run this code, and many use the "development" IPL not tied to a CIC.

"Mario Yisheng", aka "Dr. Mario 64" in other regions, uses emulated EEPROM on iQue. Data is loaded into the top of RDRAM and flushed back after play. The BB Hack flags allowed mirroring the main controller to a port of your choice.

The patched ROM expects either 4k or 16k EEPROM on its board; CIC is 6102. Up to four controllers are supported.


.: Patching :.
Apply the xdelta patch using the similarly named xdelta; use version 3.0.8 or up. The patch will only apply to a *decrypted* ROM in native (big-endian) byteorder.
(The process for extracting your console's tickets and decrypting an extracted ROM are well outside the scope of this readme.)

Common Names
6101104
005D1870.z64
Mario Yisheng.z64

Original File Checksums (Decrypted)
SHA-1
E396DF7729ACC70C0E7AB988FCA2B75EA167632D
SHA-512
2419A84EDD412EA83AE21181513352FE0A920866289F8ECE312FEE92603976034B782972B43EA5E3FE39C666C14D4AE3091A5BD7AE6A2A4AA90E7D088945588A

Patched File Checksums
SHA-1
C493AB12643C61EEB5DA02E8EB663BB5F94417B8
SHA-512
9025551318DD8641584032511491EEBC41740ABB1104DBB4A4602E2CA63C72F9EE8641C6870C8F675CDB6A385CF0BC89AA2E277A4B32177E27249834692ED802


.: Notes :.
*) Not all changes to the standard library are reversed, only those which directly affect operation or expose iQue-specific registers to emulators (console won't be affected, but emus may throw errors). This includes rewriting system initialization, controller pak detection, and most dedicated save-related functions to some degree. Other code is already isolated when iQue hardware is not detected.
*) After far too much consideration, two known glitches in the original title were fixed. One of the 2P menus flattened away the alpha channel to magenta, and blackface Octo--inconsistently so in this version--appeared solely on the character select menu. Changing these bloats the patch by 47KBs; change one byte in a gzipped file and everything following will change as well. It digresses from what you'd experience on iQue, but puts its best face forward.
*) Unlike most of the N64 library, the game will operate properly without an EEPROM present. If your saves are not persistent, check the chip is mounted correctly or whatever settings are relevant for your emu/flashcart.
*) As an point of curiosity, depending on saved data validity retail N64 will self-modify its runtime code. iQue contains the function but does not modify anything, which is good since the addresses are off a smidge. They wanted 80002E00: ADDIU A2,R0,0040; 80002FE4: ADDIU V0,R0,0040. It's not worth repacking the compressed system code to implement though.

-Zoinkity


*Common Names
6101104
005D1870.z64
Mario Yisheng.z64
*Original File Checksums (Decrypted)
*SHA-1
E396DF7729ACC70C0E7AB988FCA2B75EA167632D
*SHA-512
2419A84EDD412EA83AE21181513352FE0A920866289F8ECE312FEE92603976034B782972B43EA5E3FE39C666C14D4AE3091A5BD7AE6A2A4AA90E7D088945588A