prof9/boktai-solar-sensor-patches

Solar sensor patches for the Boktai / Bokura no Taiyou games.

Boktai Solar Sensor Patch Kit v2.2.0

Intro:

The patches in this archive are solar sensor patches. They allow you to play the Boktai or Bokura no Taiyou games without a solar sensor, so that they can be played on a flash card or emulator that doesn't support it. The retail cartridges have a solar sensor built in, which affects many things in the game. Sunlight is crucial to playing the games; without sunlight, you cannot recharge your energy or defeat half of the bosses. Some puzzles are also impossible to do without sunlight.

There were solar sensor patches for all three games already, but some of them (the patch for the third game in particular) had some faults like inconvenient button activators, a continuous increase/decrease of sunlight or the faked sunlight not affecting all in-game elements that it should. So, having played all the Boktai games, I tinkered with those patches a bit to fix things I didn't like; later, I wrote my own patches from scratch which are what you'll find in this archive.

NOTE: The patches for Boktai 3 (J) are compatible with the English translation patch.

Patches

This archive includes various patches for all Boktai games that have been released as ROM dumps. They're divided into three categories:

Clean: Removes all solar sensor hacks or trainers made by other people or groups, returning a patched ROM to its original clean state. I recommend you use this patch first.

Patch: Applies my solar sensor hack. Use this after the "Clean" patch, if necessary.

Source: Contains the source code for all my patches. Use ARMIPS v0.7d to compile.

Supported game versions are:

• Boktai 1:
  • Japanese
  • North American (Beta / E3 Demo)
  • North American
  • European
• Boktai 2:
  • Japanese
  • Japanese (Revision 1)
  • North American
  • European
• Boktai 3:
  • Japanese

Changes:

In addition to supporting more regions, my patches differ slightly from other patches available on the web. Mine generally fake the solar sensor value at a lower level, so they should have the best effect. Furthermore, they do not change the save format or Real Time Clock. You can find some of the other differences below:

Boktai 1:

• Uses R+A+D-pad button activator instead of L+D-pad.
• Doesn't have the bug where setting the solar gauge to empty does not actually block out all sunlight that some other patches have.
• Works with Rising Sun grenades, Sunny Clogs and Mr. Rainnot/Tonniar .Rm.

Boktai 2:

• Uses Select button activator instead of R+D-pad.
• Updates solar gauge graphics when changing the sunlight level while the game is paused.
• Changes the sunlight level one bar per button press instead of a continuous increase/decrease.
• Works with Rising Sun/Black Sun magic, Sunny Clogs and Mr. Rainnot/Tonniar .Rm.

Boktai 3:

• Uses Select button activator instead of L+D-pad.
• Affects all game elements - Skylights, motorcycle sequences, Solar Stations - instead of only a few.
• Updates solar gauge graphics when changing the sunlight level while the game is paused.
• Changes the sunlight level one bar per button press instead of a continuous increase/decrease.
• Works with Rising Sun magic, Sol Trance, Sunny Clogs and Mr. Rainnot/Tonniar .Rm.

How to use:

The button activators are as follows:

Boktai 1:
R + A + Left = Decrease sunlight
R + A + Right = Increase sunlight

Boktai 2:
Select + Left = Decrease sunlight
Select + Right = Increase sunlight

Boktai 3:
Select + Left = Decrease sunlight
Select + Right = Increase sunlight

How to patch:

Drag and drop the IPS file corresponding to your game version on the Lunar IPS executable (Windows users only). Then, select your ROM and wait while the program patches it. Afterwards, you can delete the IPS file.

If you are not using Windows, use another IPS patching utility to apply the patch to the ROM.

For VisualBoy Advance users:
If you do not want to patch your ROM, you can rename the IPS file to match the name of your ROM. For example, if your ROM is named Boktai.gba, you would name the patch Boktai.ips. Then, enable auto patching by checking Options -> Emulator -> Auto-apply IPS/UPS/PPF.

Clean ROMs:

These patches were made for and tested on clean ROMs. While the chances are slim, due to the nature of the patches (they all have an extension routine in free space) it's possible they might overwrite, or be overwritten by other hacks or patches. The extra routines have been placed in an empty region at the start of the ROM in an effort to avoid this, but it's always possible. The Boktai 3 patch has been tested with the English fan translation, though.

Always make sure to use a verified source such as No-Intro to check whether you have a clean ROM. However, if you are not sure whether your ROM is clean or not, try using the Cleaner patches.

History:

v1.0.0 - 11 August 2010:

• Initial release. Contained revised patches for European Boktai 1 and 2, and Japanese Boktai 3.

v2.0.0 - 25 July 2012:

• Wrote new patches from scratch for all known Boktai ROM dumps.

v2.1.0 - 7 February 2015

• Fixed solar sensor deterioration bug for Boktai 3.
• Removed Clean+Patch patches, as they caused problems in some situations.

v2.2.0 - 21 March 2015

• Patches now work properly with effects that modify the solar gauge such as Rising Sun, Sol Trance, Sunny Clogs and Mr. Rainnot.
• Changed the button combination for Boktai 1 to R + A.

Credits:

• Prof. 9: Wrote Boktai 1, 2 and 3 patches in this archive.
• MidniteW: Bug testing.
• FuSoYa: Developer of Lunar IPS v1.02.

Contact:

For bug reports and feedback, you can contact me in the following ways:

E-mail: [email protected]
Twitter: @Prof9
Forums: Prof. 9 (https://gbatemp.net)

License:

This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT license. See license.txt for more information.

Boktai, Bokura no Taiyou and Lunar Knights are © Konami 2003 - 2015.
All rights belong to their respective owners.