Sunday, February 20, 2005

13 1/2 done, 34 1/2 to go

That's a strange way to report progress but it's the number of bits in SPI sprites that should be correctly decrypted at the moment. The encryption works on 48 bits at a time, and I have to decrypt each one of them.

Luckily, having decrypted Raiden Fighters 2 makes things easier because the first few sprites in Raiden Fighters are identical, so I can compare them and see where pixels should go. However, the process isn't easy because the SPI sprite encryption is quite more complex than the tile encryption. Of the 34 1/2 bits still left to do, 16 will be particularly hard because the encryption scrambles them more aggressively. The others shouldn't be too hard to do, given enough time and patience. I have plenty of the latter, but never enough of the former.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well I have faith in you Nicola and know you can pull it off.
Thanks so much for all your hard work and dedication in MAME and making all us gamers very happy.
Your the best!
-Jackie

Anonymous said...

Good luke ;), and hey please go out and enjoy the saturday , YOU DESERVE IT :D

Anonymous said...

hahahaha

Man, Nicola is awesome.

Anonymous said...

I have still to understand __how do you figure the encryption algorithm__
From the comments you write, it seems you have the encrypted data and you know the decrypted corresponding data.
Is it true?

Anonymous said...

No need to rush things - Aaron is still very busy with his sound chips ...!

Anonymous said...

Well, Nicola just said that the different games have some similar graphics (probably the "Seibu" text when the games start). It's a frame of reference so he knows whether he's on the right track.

Past that, I'd say that magical elves visit him in his dreams and play Blackjack with him. 2 out of 3 wins, and the prize is alogrithms.

Anonymous said...

Good Luck Nicola...;P

Anonymous said...

Don't be fooled he's really a human calculator in disguise. ;)

In other words he's reached the zen of cryptography.

Anonymous said...

I heard Nicola bought an old CRAY at an auction and wired himself into it directly ;-)

Anonymous said...

what saturday?
is there more fun than sitting behind a computer doing Alien Magic?!

Anonymous said...

The guy has a JAMMA harness and a decryption engine in the back of his head, I swear it.

Thanks for everything you've done so far Nicola.

Anonymous said...

Well, Nicola i first want to thank you for having provided your stuff in order to let Haze make a mame release so that we can now play Raiden Fighters 2k ! The i want to encourage you simply because you make an amazing stuff ! kind regards.

Anonymous said...

Nicola is The father of Arcade emulation, you couldn't have expected less! :)
Keep it up!

Anonymous said...

Nicola, could you get in touch with me over that trademark issue. I have sought legal council with my lawyer and there's a couple of points I'd like to make. My addy is killerclown@mameworld.net. I just want to offer some thought and assistance...if needed/appreciated.

If you have it all under control...even better :)

All the best

KC/MAMEWorld

Anonymous said...

update:
http://www.ultracade.com/mame.htm

Apprently this guy has toned down a bit. Still I would hate to see you give in to this weasel!

Anonymous said...

Go Nicola go!!! The World is Yours!! :)
MAME MAME MAME!!!!