vitorvilela

Roadmap - May 2021

Added 2021-04-25 19:17:32 +0000 UTC

How are Vitor Vilela's projects going? This post is a summary of which projects are work in progress, which projects has updates planned and which projects are on the initial phrase (which means they will be worked on soon!)

The roadmap will be monthly updated for keeping track of everything on Vitor's projects and how they are progressing.

Finished projects

Super Mario World with SA-1 Pack - status: stable.
Gradius III with SA-1 Root - status: stable. Now we have the SA-1 Origin patch that makes the game not run too fast on some sections. Read more about here!
Contra III with SA-1 Root - status: requires update. It doesn't work on hardware currently and a fix is being planned.
Super R-Type with SA-1 Root - status: stable.
Race Drivin' with SA-1 Root - status: more updates planned. The optional SA-1 Origin version allowed you to play Race Drivin' with the same speed pace as original, but yet with the smooth 30 FPS gameplay. The RPM display however is still unstable on MiSTer. I have plans for fixing it together Contra III.
Project FastROM: Super Castlevania IV - status: stable.
Project FastROM: Axelay - status: stable. The feedback was pretty positive and I believe the FastROM implementation was enough to make the game feel much better. Once again, FastROM has the great advantage of being more stable than SA-1 Root and its compatibility is much better. I'm happy with the result.
Project FastROM: F-Zero - status: stable. I know some people were surprised with this release and indeed it's a surprise. I had the complete disassembly of the game floating around since 2019 and given that the ROM hacking community wanted a stable FastROM patch I quickly got one working with the The Last Remapper tool and the 100.00% disassembly I had. I'm happy with the positive feedback so far!

In progress projects

Super Mario World with widescreen support - status: work in progress. I fixed most of the single screen levels. I decided to edit the levels using FuSoYa's Lunar Magic 1.65, which is a lightweight version that does not modify much of the game's internal data compared to Lunar Magic 3.21. That will give me more freedom on adjusting some level design that would end up breaking with the widescreen size, such as Yoshi Island 2 level where part of the koopa troopas would already spawn on the level initialization and the last 3-4 would not, making the line of them kinda broken. The other sprite types still need to be fixed. I have great hopes of getting the patch done between mid-May and early-June.
Project FastROM: Secret of Mana - status: planned. I can't believe Square didn't use FastROM on this game. Secret of Mana is one of my favorite SNES games ever and it suffers slowdown on some parts when there's a lot of magic going-on and when there's multiple NPCs on the screen. The FastROM patch will sure make the game play much better. I don't have a disassembly of the game yet, however. SA-1 Collection samples would be welcome. You can read more about it at https://vilela.sneslab.net/2019/06/15/the-sa-1-collection-project/ -- but I'm sure the Secret of Mana randomizer ROM hacking community will help me with the disassembling process.
Star Fox with Super FX 2 - status: I'm still waiting for the Super FX dev cart. It's taking more time than normal to reach. Since April 2 the package seems to stay stuck at "Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending" at Los Angeles, according USPS tracking. I heard it's normal and it might be on the way to reach Brazil. According Brazil USPS equivalent, Correios, the package didn't reach my country yet. Let's hope in May it the package reaches. It's fundamental for my Super FX 2 studies. However, while the package doesn't reach my home, I'm going ahead and figuring out the SNES 3D limitations, you can read more on my (patron-only) throughput problem and solving the throughput problem on Star Fox posts.