Saturn Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight Ultimate Fork (PSX Script) Saturn ISO

[Spike's iconSpike]

Release notes: Based on the "Ultimate" patch by the "Medusa Team" group. Increased overall performance in the game (increased CPU frequency) Removed voids at the top of the screen in some locations Improved “Hard Mode” (enemies deal 2X damage); Added translucency of clouds against the background of the moon (flickering) Added translucency to the large window in Count Dracula's apartment The name of the current location is now displayed in teleport rooms Prologue Richter missing sprites rewritten Fixed the flame palette in the prologue (before the picture burns) Fixed a bug with the palette of a huge skull in an […]

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• Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight Ultimate Fork (PSX Script) Saturn ISO
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[Zerpina]

Looks fun

 

[fourmonty]

did mrrgrrgrr fix of setting ram cart to auto detect work for you?

ok its working for me, havent seen any audio issues yet

 

[TheManWithPants]

I dream of getting a Steam Deck one day but I'm very low on money but a Steam Deck is definitely something a console gamer like me is very interested in.

Understandable. It's cheaper than most PC alternatives out there, but it's definitely still pricey. I'd recommend keeping an eye out for when refurbished models go on sale from the official Steam store. They can go for up to $100 cheaper than a brand new one.

 

[Juiceala]

It's not so much that it's "locked" to PC, as the decompilations are really just reverse engineering the source code of the game so that it's easier to read and modify. The real issue is that there just isn't much interest from the community to port some of those games to other platforms, largely due to consoles being locked down "walled gardens" that limit what you can do with them on stock devices, and most console gamers don't want to go through the hassle to mod their system (as game publishers won't allow those decomps to be released officially).

PC gaming is largely a more open "enthusiast" platform that allows for unlicensed 3rd party applications right out of the box, which makes it a lot easier for these projects to exist. Still, some of these projects have been ported to modded consoles and Android devices, such as Super Mario 64 and Sonic Mania; there just needs to be someone with interest to port more games to those platforms from the community.

If you want to ever get into PC gaming, but want something that offers a more 'console-like' experience, the Steam Deck seems to be the easiest and one of the cheapest ways to get into it, as it's a handheld that can be docked to a TV, like the Switch and Switch 2, and has a 'console-like' UI with Steam's Big Picture mode.

I dream of getting a Steam Deck one day but I'm very low on money but a Steam Deck is definitely something a console gamer like me is very interested in.

 

[TheManWithPants]

Cool as it maybe, this locks the game for PC users only again, I rather play the PS/Saturn version with an emulator at this point so I can use any of my devices.

Honestly, this is my main issue with most decompilation projects, it makes the game (arguably) more accessible for PC users (I say arguably because you lose features such as save state, rewind and fast forward) but it locks the game to PC only

It's not so much that it's "locked" to PC, as the decompilations are really just reverse engineering the source code of the game so that it's easier to read and modify. The real issue is that there just isn't much interest from the community to port some of those games to other platforms, largely due to consoles being locked down "walled gardens" that limit what you can do with them on stock devices, and most console gamers don't want to go through the hassle to mod their system (as game publishers won't allow those decomps to be released officially).

PC gaming is largely a more open "enthusiast" platform that allows for unlicensed 3rd party applications right out of the box, which makes it a lot easier for these projects to exist. Still, some of these projects have been ported to modded consoles and Android devices, such as Super Mario 64 and Sonic Mania; there just needs to be someone with interest to port more games to those platforms from the community.

If you want to ever get into PC gaming, but want something that offers a more 'console-like' experience, the Steam Deck seems to be the easiest and one of the cheapest ways to get into it, as it's a handheld that can be docked to a TV, like the Switch and Switch 2, and has a 'console-like' UI with Steam's Big Picture mode.

 

[fourmonty]

Weird the retroarch beetle saturn core (aka mednafen core) has the voice acting problems for me, and I just updated all my cores like 2 days ago. I'll try updating the core and try it again tonight.

did mrrgrrgrr fix of setting ram cart to auto detect work for you?

 

[Juiceala]

Agreed. Saturn Maria > PSP Maria (in my opinion).

I'm still disappointed that none of the Mega Man collections with Mega Man 8 ever gave us that Saturn content.

Same with Mega Man X3 they usually use the inferior Super Nintendo version.

 

[mrrgrrgrr]

Oh I'm aware, I've been very active in the hacking scene since the mid 2000s, the PS Vita and Sega Dreamcast in particular get all sorts of ports, even the PSP and 3DS.

But it's like you said most of the time these decomps are locked to PC, it's a rare situation we get ports to other systems, and while I completely get the appeal, as a console gamer myself, I rather just emulate the PS/Saturn Rom rather than having to deal with PC, but is just me, hopefully this project does get finished and ported all over.

Saturn version to PS1 would be dope though, Mega Man 8 too?

Agreed. Saturn Maria > PSP Maria (in my opinion).

I'm still disappointed that none of the Mega Man collections with Mega Man 8 ever gave us that Saturn content.

 

[Juiceala]

Not necessarily! While most decomp ports are made for PC (since it's easier for devs to work with), we have seen some devs port games to different consoles.

Cave Story has been ported to all sorts of consoles, including the SEGA Genesis.

Mario Kart 64 has a port for Dreamcast.

Let's not forget the Dreamcast port of Star Fox 64 that's in progress.

... SEGA consoles are really popular for fan ports lol.

Paper Mario got decompiled, but instead of a PC port they used the information they had to make existing modding tools better. There are some wild Paper Mario ROM hacks in development right now.

Heck, the people behind the Symphony of the Night decomp were able to backport PSP Maria to the PS1 version. If they can do that, then I would think that porting over the Saturn content to the PS1 version would also be possible.

I'm not saying that these things will 100% happen, I'm just saying that anything is possible once something's decompiled. We'll just have to wait and see what people do with the decomp code once it's fully out there.

Oh I'm aware, I've been very active in the hacking scene since the mid 2000s, the PS Vita and Sega Dreamcast in particular get all sorts of ports, even the PSP and 3DS.

But it's like you said most of the time these decomps are locked to PC, it's a rare situation we get ports to other systems, and while I completely get the appeal, as a console gamer myself, I rather just emulate the PS/Saturn Rom rather than having to deal with PC, but is just me, hopefully this project does get finished and ported all over.

Saturn version to PS1 would be dope though, Mega Man 8 too?

 

[PhaseJump]

Cool as it maybe, this locks the game for PC users only again, I rather play the PS/Saturn version with an emulator at this point so I can use any of my devices.

Honestly, this is my main issue with most decompilation projects, it makes the game (arguably) more accessible for PC users (I say arguably because you lose features such as save state, rewind and fast forward) but it locks the game to PC only

Decomps are typically done to reverse engineer code written in assembly, specifically targeting old hardware, so it's ported to a high level language like C which in turn can lead to native ports, mods, and enhancements without the need for emulation.

Nothing about any of it "locks" a game for PC users. They just get the full benefit of it up front, and can begin pushing optimizations or more easily start port work to other platforms if they want to do so. If anything, decompilation projects "unlock" games and help preserve them for the public.

 

[mrrgrrgrr]

Cool as it maybe, this locks the game for PC users only again, I rather play the PS/Saturn version with an emulator at this point so I can use any of my devices.

Honestly, this is my main issue with most decompilation projects, it makes the game (arguably) more accessible for PC users (I say arguably because you lose features such as save state, rewind and fast forward) but it locks the game to PC only

Not necessarily! While most decomp ports are made for PC (since it's easier for devs to work with), we have seen some devs port games to different consoles.

Cave Story has been ported to all sorts of consoles, including the SEGA Genesis.

Mario Kart 64 has a port for Dreamcast.

Let's not forget the Dreamcast port of Star Fox 64 that's in progress.

... SEGA consoles are really popular for fan ports lol.

Paper Mario got decompiled, but instead of a PC port they used the information they had to make existing modding tools better. There are some wild Paper Mario ROM hacks in development right now.

Heck, the people behind the Symphony of the Night decomp were able to backport PSP Maria to the PS1 version. If they can do that, then I would think that porting over the Saturn content to the PS1 version would also be possible.

I'm not saying that these things will 100% happen, I'm just saying that anything is possible once something's decompiled. We'll just have to wait and see what people do with the decomp code once it's fully out there.

 

[Juiceala]

There is a decompilation project, which is nearly complete. I heard that the creators of the decomp do intend to make a PC port of this with the Saturn content added in. Hopefully this happens and we can finally get a definitive version of this game.

Cool as it maybe, this locks the game for PC users only again, I rather play the PS/Saturn version with an emulator at this point so I can use any of my devices.

Honestly, this is my main issue with most decompilation projects, it makes the game (arguably) more accessible for PC users (I say arguably because you lose features such as save state, rewind and fast forward) but it locks the game to PC only

 

[mrrgrrgrr]

This version of the game is likely the best version we will get. Bonus content and stuff not in the PS1 game. The 4M hack isn't worth using.

The original Japanese version's slowdown and load times are much worse than what we see here. Konami didn't handle the Saturn hardware right at all.

There is a decompilation project, which is nearly complete. I heard that the creators of the decomp do intend to make a PC port of this with the Saturn content added in. Hopefully this happens and we can finally get a definitive version of this game.

 

[roundtree]

Weird. It did work for me I just double checked on the emulators. Original redump release is called "Akumajou Dracula X - Gekka no Yasoukyoku (Japan) (2M).zip". Information on it's CRC is available here: http://redump.org/disc/3849/

if only I could tell you my source for the file. it would be nice so you could try it again. With the proper image. strange. beats me.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 5:31 PM

That's okay because I do believe I have the same exact file. I was just going to ask if you are sure that you got the exact patch. I got the 1.1 patch with the ps1 voice dub. I actually patched it on Linux mint and it ran perfect. Then I used game converter to convert over to chd. It's an awesome program but only runs on Linux. I'm using yabasanshiro on retroarch on android with the 1MB cartridge.

 

[PhaseJump]

This version of the game is likely the best version we will get. Bonus content and stuff not in the PS1 game. The 4M hack isn't worth using.

The original Japanese version's slowdown and load times are much worse than what we see here. Konami didn't handle the Saturn hardware right at all.

 

[soulfunkdjx]

So here's the thing.
I've tested the game on Retroarch/ Beetle core and is running fine.
On real hardware with Fenrir and the 4MB cartridge the game has faulty voice acting and specific on the second scene with the sceleton.
On real hardware with no 4MB cartridge the game is working just fine with the voice acting.
Unfortunatelly those damn slowdowns are remaining here and there in the game even with the 4MB support or not.
Also the map configuration (Up+Start button) is working fine.
This game is so messed up.
I will never see a fixed version.
Every version has problems...

 

[Rain]

I just tried to patch a redump image and I'm just getting the same results. I still have the weird audio issues unless I disable the 4 MB Ram cart. The image didnt say 2k though.

Weird. It did work for me I just double checked on the emulators. Original redump release is called "Akumajou Dracula X - Gekka no Yasoukyoku (Japan) (2M).zip". Information on it's CRC is available here: http://redump.org/disc/3849/

if only I could tell you my source for the file. it would be nice so you could try it again. With the proper image. strange. beats me.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 5:31 PM

I am playing a version I patched myself on real hardware with bios 1.01.

Never ran into audio issues yet. The 4M cache loading crashes the console while loading the start of a new game after the CGI skit with the map and the castle. I am also testing the Dracula X patch from Meduza team this is based on, and the same thing is happening there.

It crashes the console and eventually drops the signal output being fed to my upscaler.

I don't know which 4MB cart you have, but earlier versions of the Action Replay 4-in-1 had an issue in which the 4MB Chip would never get activated when requested by the Saturn, which means the games simply wouldn't load - only 1MB games would.

There's a simple 1 wire mod you can make to your board to fix it, but it's lost to the annals of the internet. Thankfully, archive.org exists:

https://web.archive.org/web/20040208092823/http://www.ncsx.com:80/ncs0330/ncs0413/schemax.htm

It might not be your issue, but I had to do it on mine back in the 2000s.

I have played the shit out of all these patches, and the 4M hack was never really good for anything. Performance was still bad.

Adding the 4MB memory won't increase in-game performance in general, but it will make loading faster:

- When using the extension card, the access time to the pause menu is reduced even more than without using it. Also reduced loading time when moving to the library, when entering to teleportation rooms and when moving between castles (normal and inverted);
- Loading sprites of all playable characters is performed directly from the expansion card without using streaming unpacking (as was the case in the original version of the game). This solution allows you to achieve more performance in the game;

 

[SuperGamer1888]

Hold up and press start from in the game.

There is another patch you can apply that changes this, made because there is an 8bitdo controller kit out there that depends on U/D+Start functions already.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 3:10 PM

I am playing a version I patched myself on real hardware with bios 1.01.

Never ran into audio issues yet. The 4M cache loading crashes the console while loading the start of a new game after the CGI skit with the map and the castle. I am also testing the Dracula X patch from Meduza team this is based on, and the same thing is happening there.

It crashes the console and eventually drops the signal output being fed to my upscaler.

I have played the shit out of all these patches, and the 4M hack was never really good for anything. Performance was still bad.

Thank you for that! I always thought it was left trigger.

 

[PhaseJump]

I have tried this and I cannot get the map to come up. Pause game and left trigger and nothing.

Hold up and press start from in the game.

There is another patch you can apply that changes this, made because there is an 8bitdo controller kit out there that depends on U/D+Start functions already.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 3:10 PM

I was also having the desynch audio with the version downloaded from here, on both Ymir and Beetle, both with no RAM expansion and with 4GB RAM.

Decided to do the patching myself on a Redump2k sourced dump and I no longer have any audio desynch on any emulator on or without the RAM expansion.

I am playing a version I patched myself on real hardware with bios 1.01.

Never ran into audio issues yet. The 4M cache loading crashes the console while loading the start of a new game after the CGI skit with the map and the castle. I am also testing the Dracula X patch from Meduza team this is based on, and the same thing is happening there.

It crashes the console and eventually drops the signal output being fed to my upscaler.

I have played the shit out of all these patches, and the 4M hack was never really good for anything. Performance was still bad.

 

[SuperGamer1888]

I have tried this and I cannot get the map to come up. Pause game and left trigger and nothing.

 

[roundtree]

I was also having the desynch audio with the version downloaded from here, on both Ymir and Beetle, both with no RAM expansion and with 4GB RAM.

Decided to do the patching myself on a Redump2k sourced dump and I no longer have any audio desynch on any emulator on or without the RAM expansion.

I just tried to patch a redump image and I'm just getting the same results. I still have the weird audio issues unless I disable the 4 MB Ram cart. The image didnt say 2k though.

 

[harveyloto2]

is it just me or the download of vita game is very slow

 

[roundtree]

I was also having the desynch audio with the version downloaded from here, on both Ymir and Beetle, both with no RAM expansion and with 4GB RAM.

Decided to do the patching myself on a Redump2k sourced dump and I no longer have any audio desynch on any emulator on or without the RAM expansion.

Now I think I want to try that myself because it sounds better to have the extra ram anyway.

 

[Rain]

Yeah that trick seems to work perfect even with yabasanshiro. BTW, thank you! If using yabasanshiro, there will be a white border on the right side during cutscenes. This only happens with v1.1, not 1.0. Not sure why. But the psx script has far superior voice acting. Alucard sounds like he has a spine in this one. And Maria is better than her Rondo version on the PSP sotn. No bird chucking, just kamehameha. I wish she could use the menu and items though, but she and Richter are second mode characters.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 5:56 AM

Just do mrrgrrgrr said. It will fix it.

I was also having the desynch audio with the version downloaded from here, on both Ymir and Beetle, both with no RAM expansion and with 4GB RAM.

Decided to do the patching myself on a Redump2k sourced dump and I no longer have any audio desynch on any emulator on or without the RAM expansion.

 

[roundtree]

For those having audio syncing issues, I found that this only happens when using a 4M RAM cart. When I set the RAM cart setting in retroarch to "Auto Detect", this problem didn't occur. This is with the beetle saturn core. Might be an issue with the RAM cache.

Edit: To clarify, the audio issue occurred if I forced the emulator to assume a 4M RAM cart.

Yeah that trick seems to work perfect even with yabasanshiro. BTW, thank you! If using yabasanshiro, there will be a white border on the right side during cutscenes. This only happens with v1.1, not 1.0. Not sure why. But the psx script has far superior voice acting. Alucard sounds like he has a spine in this one. And Maria is better than her Rondo version on the PSP sotn. No bird chucking, just kamehameha. I wish she could use the menu and items though, but she and Richter are second mode characters.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 5:56 AM

Weird the retroarch beetle saturn core (aka mednafen core) has the voice acting problems for me, and I just updated all my cores like 2 days ago. I'll try updating the core and try it again tonight.

Just do mrrgrrgrr said. It will fix it.