Nova's Rad PowerPak Menu

[NovaSquirrel]

<tepples> there's 3rd party firmware for SNES PowerPak that has a lion
<tepples> and there will be 3rd party firmware for the NES PowerPak that has a different animal

Said animal is a squirrel, me (also taking photos of TV screens is dumb):


Changes:

• New font (similar to Wasted Collection) and palette (very pale green background color, black text).
• Nova sprite on intro screen.
• "Load last game" on intro screen moved to B button.
• Mouse support in most menus, but mouse just translates to up/down and the A and B buttons for now.
• If AUTORUN.NES is found in the root directory of the CF card, it is automatically run at the intro screen, without SRAM or Game Genie codes loaded.
• "Bad file header" error automatically resets the NES after 100 frames, rather than requiring a manual reset.
• Includes the save fix from viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9880
• Finer control over speed in NSF player (Start+Left and Start+Right change speed, Start+A now has Start's original function)

Files included:

• 1.RAD - Shared routines, gets loaded near the end of the 512kb PRG ROM space.
• I.MAP - First module to run. Loads replacement font and background color and switches to J.MAP.
• J.MAP - Loads 1.RAD and switches to T.MAP.
• T.MAP - Title. Edited intro screen.
• B.MAP, D.MAP, G.MAP, N.MAP, O.MAP - Menus with extra controller support patched in.
• E.MAP - Edited file header error screen.
• Q.MAP - Edited "Save RAM to CF? screen", so mouse left button saves and mouse right button declines.
• NSF.NES - Edited NSF player.

Things I want to do in a future release:

• Better mouse control
• More controllers, maybe Zapper and PowerPad? Maaaaybe Arkanoid.
• Figure out a possible problem with song restarting in NSFs

[JRoatch]

*looks at source* menu mods look so much easier to make then mapper code.

Anyway when I try loading Double Action 53 I get a "MAP28 file not found" error.

[tepples]

Isn't Double Action 53 supposed to be MAP1C (hex $1C = decimal 28)?

[cubeboy]

Thanks, I'll have to try this out. So this just essentially replaces the current intro and menus?

[NovaSquirrel]

Thanks, I'll have to try this out. So this just essentially replaces the current intro and menus?

Yeah, but most menus aren't changed very much, except to allow for alternate controllers (currently just mouse).

[cubeboy]

I finally got around to trying this and it doesn't work with thefox's new power mappers. The bug fixes and additions are nice, but I will have to wait until power mappers are supported.

[NovaSquirrel]

I finally got around to trying this and it doesn't work with thefox's new power mappers. The bug fixes and additions are nice, but I will have to wait until power mappers are supported.

The only menu file powermappers seems to replace is O.MAP and the only customization my own O.MAP has is mouse support. If the mouse doesn't matter you could just use that version and I assume it'd work?

Speaking of bug fixes I think I broke being able to load the latest game from the intro screen, I'll have to look at that.

[GameMachineJames]

[*] If AUTORUN.NES is found in the root directory of the CF card, it is automatically run at the intro screen, without SRAM or Game Genie codes loaded.

So it runs the AUTORUN.NES at boot? Not showing the intro screen at all?

[NovaSquirrel]

So it runs the AUTORUN.NES at boot? Not showing the intro screen at all?

That's what it's supposed to do, yeah. The point is not having to press anything to start the game.

[deksar]

Thanks so much NovaSquirrel for the great work.

Is it possible, by using that version, to reset the console remotely by the controller, rather than pushing the reset button on it?
Or at least, any way to quit and go back to the main Rom select menu inside the game?
I think the official PowerPak mappers do not allow this.

[NovaSquirrel]

Is it possible, by using that version, to reset the console remotely by the controller, rather than pushing the reset button on it?

If possible, I think that would require custom mappers, which is outside of the scope of this project (which is just a few edits to menus).

[deksar]

Hey again,
Is there any update on the project?

[NovaSquirrel]

I haven't worked on it at all. I was going to make a light version that only had the autorun feature (and that let you bypass the autorun by holding a button or something) but it wasn't cooperating. If there's interest I could finish that.

I don't really use my PowerPak all that much anymore except to test builds of my game, and some stuff is kinda buggy in this menu.
What all would be reasonable additions to it?

[2600]

I'd like to see the light version with the autorun feature.

[NovaSquirrel]

Light version, source included and the files in the PowerPak directory in the zip can just be copied into the PowerPak directory on the CF card.

This version only includes the autorun feature (AUTORUN.NES in the root directory is looked for, and run if it's present. Autorun is skipped if player one holds Up during boot), the Chicago font, and an edit for the bad file header screen that automatically restarts the NES so you don't have to press the reset button.

Source isn't that great since I just edited what I had that was definitely working but it shouldn't matter.

To use the original PowerPak menu font, delete J.MAP and rename T.MAP to J.MAP.

Modules included:

• E.MAP - Bad file header screen
• I.MAP - Autorun, then J.MAP
• J.MAP - Font replacement, then T.MAP
• T.MAP - the original PowerPak I.MAP