NDS Front Mission (USA) DS (lag fix by thunderdisk)

[RageBurner]

Front Mission (USA) DS (lag fix by thunderdisk)​

A DS port of Front Mission 1st (originally an enhanced port of the first SNES Front Mission with extras on the PS1), the DS version has even more content, making it the definitive way to enjoy this classic.

However, the port was handled extremely poorly, and the game lags terribly when loading battle scenes as well as browsing Wanzer parts in shops or any other kind of interaction that has to do with polling and displaying graphics.

Thunderdisk, an extremely talented hacker at RHDN checked the game out on a whim, at a forum user's behest, and ended up rewriting the whole graphics loading system of the game, removing all loading lag and making the game even snappier than the SNES original.

This is an absolute romhacking miracle that needs to be seen to be believed.

Comparison clip below (left is unmodified, right is lag fixed):

 

[Squeaker88]

Speaking of Front Mission on NDS, does anyone know what happened to the alleged english translation of Front Mission 2089 - Border of Madness? A few years ago, some guy on the internet was recruiting people for the project but I haven't seen anything since.

Bit of a necro, but a first pass of the translation went live on the 4th. I've yet to try it or patch it though~

 

[RageBurner]

Well, the unmodified version of the game took 4-5 seconds to move to the battle screen, while the modified version takes less than 1 second to move to the battle screen. A big difference by the way.

It's just impossible to play the unmodified version afterwards.

 

[Nelson2001 Nelson2001]

Well, the unmodified version of the game took 4-5 seconds to move to the battle screen, while the modified version takes less than 1 second to move to the battle screen. A big difference by the way.

 

[RageBurner]

I'm playing it on real hardware

The secondary screen still contains useful information when not displaying logos. The only solution I could think of is edit the graphics to blank them out.

 

[Miles4001]

Try changing the screen ratio

I'm playing it on real hardware

 

[RageBurner]

This is amazing, thanks so much for finding it and uploading it.

Runs like a dream on my 2ds, it's surreal to see the battles load up so fast.

Even though it's the definitive version of the game, having that wait time for every attack would wear on my patience, now with this performance improvement, it truly is the definitive version of the game

My thoughts exactly. The only alternative before would be booting the game using Twilight Menu++ to overclock the game whike running on DSI/2DS/3DS or do a hacky setup involving older versions of MelonDS running said Menu.

Thunderdisk's fix is not only faster than the above, it also opens up the game to be enjoyed by people that don't have said portables.

 

[Pearly]

This is amazing, thanks so much for finding it and uploading it.

Runs like a dream on my 2ds, it's surreal to see the battles load up so fast.

Even though it's the definitive version of the game, having that wait time for every attack would wear on my patience, now with this performance improvement, it truly is the definitive version of the game

 

[AccordTheGynoid]

That's so awesome! Thank you!!!!!

 

[RageBurner]

Cool, thanks man~

All merit really goes to thunderdisk, the hacker. Since the hack was kind of lost in a RHDN thread and not preserved anywhere else, I figured it was important to share here, before the original link for the patch disappears or something.

 

[minimug]

Cool, thanks man~

 

[RedNin3]

This is just incredible. Such a nice weekend gift.

 

[RageBurner]

No I think the name inside the archive is correct. It's just that in my case I needed to import the save by renaming the savefile and not the other way around. Sorry for the confusion.

Oh yeah, importing, right. That's what I did to test yours, too, but it's true no emulator is very clear about requiring this.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

I might have made a mistake and forgot the rename the file internally. If so I'll reupload a correction just in case.

No I think the name inside the archive is correct. It's just that in my case I needed to import the save by renaming the savefile and not the other way around. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[RageBurner]

I might have made a mistake and forgot the rename the file internally. If so I'll reupload a correction just in case.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

Do these slots match the progress you have? if so, the save works fine.

View attachment 57440

Yeah don't bother. As explained in the last post it works when renaming the save file. I was renaming the .7z file when I first tested. That doesn't work that way, the .nds in the archive was not renamed, and MelonDS will search the sav file corresponding to the nds file in the archive, not the name of the archive itself.

 

[RageBurner]

Works like a dream on a real NDSi XL

Glad to hear it!

 

[PencoSucio]

The hacker optimized the game code itself, it should work on any kind of hardware, even the DS itself with a flashcard.

Works like a dream on a real NDSi XL

 

[RageBurner]

OK testing this further.
I'm on MelonDS Retroarch both versions up to date on a linux PC. Fast-forward is working as expected I'm not bound to a special loader. For savefile transfer :

- At first I renamed the .7z hack to "1548 - Front Mission (U)(XenoPhobia).7z", assuming the corresponding "1548 - Front Mission (U)(XenoPhobia).sav" file would load, but it didnt. I've retested it now it still wouldn't.

- After reading your comment I noticed a file named "Front Mission DS (lag fix by thunderdisk).sav" was created. It seems MelonDS created an empty savefile but it didnt get the name from the .7z file directly, the .nds file inside the archive is used to create the savefile name.

- Overwriting "Front Mission DS (lag fix by thunderdisk).sav" with my already existing saves I'm now able to load them with the ROMHack renamed "1548 - Front Mission (U)(XenoPhobia).7z". I dont think it's the expected behaviour, MelonDS should accept the .sav file corresponding to the .7z file.

In other words, they dont need to have the same name, but you need to have the save file named "Front Mission DS (lag fix by thunderdisk).sav" and nothing else.

I'm gonna attach the save files if you want to test. How far did you get with the hack? Was it reported fully playable? I'm gonna play further and report here how things goes.

Do these slots match the progress you have? if so, the save works fine.

 

[RageBurner]

Now a patch that removes the logos in the up screen, they're so distracting in that version of the game

View attachment 57421

Try changing the screen ratio

 

[Miles4001]

Now a patch that removes the logos in the up screen, they're so distracting in that version of the game

 

[RageBurner]

OK testing this further.
I'm on MelonDS Retroarch both versions up to date on a linux PC. Fast-forward is working as expected I'm not bound to a special loader. For savefile transfer :

- At first I renamed the .7z hack to "1548 - Front Mission (U)(XenoPhobia).7z", assuming the corresponding "1548 - Front Mission (U)(XenoPhobia).sav" file would load, but it didnt. I've retested it now it still wouldn't.

- After reading your comment I noticed a file named "Front Mission DS (lag fix by thunderdisk).sav" was created. It seems MelonDS created an empty savefile but it didnt get the name from the .7z file directly, something inside the archive is used to create the savefile name.

- Overwriting "Front Mission DS (lag fix by thunderdisk).sav" with my already existing saves I'm now able to load them with the ROMHack renamed "1548 - Front Mission (U)(XenoPhobia).7z". I dont think if it's the expected behaviour, MelonDS should accept the .sav file corresponding to the .7z file.

I'm gonna attach the save files if you want to test. How far did you get with the hack? Was it reported fully playable? I'm gonna play further and report here how things goes

I can't test your saves at the moment, but could be a retroarch quirk for all I know (I don't like it).

As for the hack working I can attest it does, I have saves deep in each campaign).

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

That's strange. That's the ROM base used so it shouldn't be incompatible. Make sure the saves have exactly the same name as the ROM or it won't work.

Fast forwarding can only partially mitigate things, as you can't make the emulated CPU be any faster unless you use a special loader on a DSI or 2/3DS.

OK testing this further.
I'm on MelonDS Retroarch both versions up to date on a linux PC. Fast-forward is working as expected I'm not bound to a special loader. For savefile transfer :

- At first I renamed the .7z hack to "1548 - Front Mission (U)(XenoPhobia).7z", assuming the corresponding "1548 - Front Mission (U)(XenoPhobia).sav" file would load, but it didnt. I've retested it now it still wouldn't.

- After reading your comment I noticed a file named "Front Mission DS (lag fix by thunderdisk).sav" was created. It seems MelonDS created an empty savefile but it didnt get the name from the .7z file directly, the .nds file inside the archive is used to create the savefile name.

- Overwriting "Front Mission DS (lag fix by thunderdisk).sav" with my already existing saves I'm now able to load them with the ROMHack renamed "1548 - Front Mission (U)(XenoPhobia).7z". I dont think it's the expected behaviour, MelonDS should accept the .sav file corresponding to the .7z file.

In other words, they dont need to have the same name, but you need to have the save file named "Front Mission DS (lag fix by thunderdisk).sav" and nothing else.

I'm gonna attach the save files if you want to test. How far did you get with the hack? Was it reported fully playable? I'm gonna play further and report here how things goes.

 

[FifthStreetSenate]

I sure wish this got done. Incidentally, Border or Madness doesn't lag.

As far as I know the BoM fan translation is still ongoing. They've got a discord where they post updates about it every now and then.

 

[RageBurner]

Speaking of Front Mission on NDS, does anyone know what happened to the alleged english translation of Front Mission 2089 - Border of Madness? A few years ago, some guy on the internet was recruiting people for the project but I haven't seen anything since.

I sure wish this got done. Incidentally, Border or Madness doesn't lag.

 

[RageBurner]

Thanks for the info. I'm in the middle of a run with the vanilla version and can confirm that navigating the menus is heavy on the emulator, and trying to reduce the lag with preemptive frames was leading to sound glitches despite a good i7 CPU.

I got somewhat used to it, but I will test this version and report if my save is compatible.

Post automatically merged: Apr 12, 2025

Sadly the ROMhack doesnt accept my savefiles from "1548 - Front Mission (U)(XenoPhobia)" on Retroarch MelonDS core.

I'd have to finish it with that version. I dont really mind any lag as I use fast forward a lot anyway.

If you guys go for the DS version, remember that the game has a slightly lower resolution than the SNES version and also some of the colors are oversaturated and yellow tinted for the DS screen, so I'd adivse using a shader for color correction. Using the hybrid mode I got a preset for that for Retroarch.

View attachment 57266

That's strange. That's the ROM base used so it shouldn't be incompatible. Make sure the saves have exactly the same name as the ROM or it won't work.

Fast forwarding can only partially mitigate things, as you can't make the emulated CPU be any faster unless you use a special loader on a DSI or 2/3DS.