Dig this hack! The only change suggestion would be to have a person chosen at random in the beginning of the match and when / if the countdown reaches zero to be the hot potato. Maybe via a visible 10 / 5 sec countdown timer unless someone gets hit. So if for instance your a dominant gamer playing with casuals (women, children, etc..) there is no guilt of being the single sole person of initiating the first attacks every time 😉. Other than that this is a stellar mod which is recommended. 👍
Hi, I played your romhack with a few friends and it was a blast. You've added so many features with your latest patch you may as well rename your romhack to Mario Kart 64 Plus or Mario Kart 64 Remix, it's that good.
Thanks for the feedback. Glad you liked the hack. I am actually working on a more comprehensive overhaul of battle mode which will include even more features an options, and new variations on battle of which hot potato will be one of many. The next version will be called Battle Kart 64.
This is really cool, quick question why not use the three balloons on the back of the cart for your final 3 HP instead of having the counter on the screen?
The short answer is that for "Hot Potato Battle", the hit detection uses the balloon count and resets it from 2 back to 3 after you are hit so I need a different way to track your score. The long answer is that i am working on a much more in depth hack called "Battle Kart 64" which includes Hot Potato Battle as a game mode. If you play a "traditional battle" in Battle Kart 64, and set your HP to 3 or less, the game will use the balloons instead of the onscreen HP display.
This hack only lets you play in battle mode because I had to butcher the rom's code too much and parts of the race code have been overwritten. If you want to race, I recommend keeping a vanilla version of the game/rom lying around so you can switch back and forth.
And now an actual MK64 question - it's my understanding that the disabling of music in 3+ player splitscreen was to free up CPU resources as the N64 doesn't have dedicated audio hardware. With the existence of N64 CPU overclocking (most commonly used in Smash 64 2v2 team battles), I've always wondered if a mod to re-enable the music would be possible if then combined with an N64 CPU overclock in order to counter-act any reduction in performance.
You can try the following Gameshark code to turn on the music in 3&4 player. 8128EC9C 240E 8128EC9E 0001 8128F9C4 2409 8128F9C6 0001 source: skelux.net/showthread.php?tid=553 There are rom patches that do the same thing floating around somewhere. It adds a slight amount of lag but not as much as you'd think. Most people probably wouldn't even notice. A future version of this hack might toggling the music for 3/4 players as an option. Overclocking your N64 would more than compensate for any lag this might introduce. You might also want to look into disabling the anti-aliasing if you are trying to reduce lag.
@@triclon Beware, lengthy reply. Thanks, but unfortunately my gaming setup means that I've no simple way to use gameshark codes and still be able to easily play multiplayer N64 games. I did however discover the 3&4 player music IPS patches by Zoinkity which seem to do the trick, but also I don't have the hardware to run those on a real N64 and it seems to crash in emulators...except for one - Nintendo's own Wii virtual console for MK64 if I inject the modded z64 rom into the VC wad (both NTSC-U versions). But at least in Dolphin (haven't tried it on my Wii yet), there's a weird issue though where the game ends up running at 25fps/50VI/s when using Zoinkity's music hack, and it's not just PAL slow down either because the audio is noticeably hiccupping in a manner similar to if you enable "audio stretching" in Dolphin and then set Dolphin's emulator speed limit to something like 80% (except I had audio stretching disabled...), and yes I made sure to use the NTSC-U version of the patch as well, and no the unmodified MK64 wad does not exhibit this weird 25fps/50VI/s behavior and runs at 30fps/60VI/s. Now in Dolphin I can work around the issue by setting its emulation speed limit to 120% and then enabling "audio stretching", but this does still impact the audio quality some and it obviously won't work on an actual Wii console either. I however find another version on abitalive's github in assembly form that does indeed seem to work in every N64 emulator I threw at it (Cen64, Mupen64plus, PJ64) and so presumably would work on real hardware too considering it worked on Cen64...but I don't have a way to play roms on real N64 hardware, and unfortunately this version ends up crashing at the MK64 title screen if I try to run it injected into the Wii virtual console not to mention the wacky 25fps/50VI/s issue still persist in this version regardless of whether it's a Dolphin version that's not even a week old or a version of Dolphin from 2010. So yeah...any insight into all of this on how I could get this running correctly on some form or console hardware if all I have is a bone-stock N64 with no gameshark and a softmodded Wii? Perhaps I should submit an issue to abitalive's github with regards to VC compatibility.
@@RinTohsaka64 I have my own code to inject Gameshark codes directly into the rom. I can cook up a custom patch for you later. If there are any other features/Gameshark codes you would like to add (widescreen, disable-anti aliasing, ect.), let me know and I can include those. That should get around the compatibility problem. If you want to use gameshark codes on the stock game on console you will need either a Gameshark or some flash drive like an Everdrive. My hack also runs on an Everdrive on console.
I forgot to mention, if you are just trying to inject Gameshark codes into the unmodified rom, you can try the utility I made here: sites.google.com/view/triclons-mario-kart-64-page/utilities/mario-kart-64-gameshark-code-injector It won't work on my hack because it would overwrite code the hack uses but I can custom make a patch with gameshark codes added to my hack.
@@triclon I suppose widescreen would also be useful if running through the Wii VC, but I've no idea if no AA would look better or worse through the Wii VC or not, nor if the wacky 25fps/50VI/s bug would persist.
Random odd question - your previous MK64 mod used a BPS patch, but this uses xdelta instead. Is there a particular reason for the change? I would have thought that you would have either stuck with the same format for both, or for this mod include both BPS and xdelta.
No reason in particular. Either format could work. Most modern patching programs handle both, but I think xdelta might be a newer format so I went with that.
@@triclon Hate to break it to you, but I'm pretty darn sure that xdelta is the older format of the two and byuu's displeasure with that format's complexity is actually one of the driving reasons that he created BPS. (that is, BPS is simple enough that it can be easily implemented in the emulator itself for soft-patching, but by contrast I'm unaware of any emulator that implements soft-patching for xdelta) So yeah, for the reason of soft-patching, BPS tends to be the preferred format if you're not the type of person to use existing older formats just because "it's what everybody else has been using for however long regardless of how good or bad the format is" (see: IPS)
@@RinTohsaka64 Okay thanks for letting me know. I will definitely use .bps for future releases if it makes soft patching easier for folks. What about IPS? Is that an even better format or is .bps the way to go?
@@triclon Lawl, IPS is basically the GIF of patching formats whereby it's only used because people don't know of newer, better formats and that it wasn't until more recently that newer formats became much more widely supported, especially since both IPS and GIF are limited in some way (IPS caps at 16MB, GIF caps at 256 colors). So in this case, IPS = GIF while BPS = APNG And by that token, xdelta could be compared to MNG which is an older but more complicated format, and both BPS and APNG were created as simpler yet similarly effective replacements. (btw I made a pretty lengthy edit to my reply on the 3&4 player music comment)
Dig this hack! The only change suggestion would be to have a person chosen at random in the beginning of the match and when / if the countdown reaches zero to be the hot potato. Maybe via a visible 10 / 5 sec countdown timer unless someone gets hit. So if for instance your a dominant gamer playing with casuals (women, children, etc..) there is no guilt of being the single sole person of initiating the first attacks every time 😉. Other than that this is a stellar mod which is recommended. 👍
Hi, I played your romhack with a few friends and it was a blast. You've added so many features with your latest patch you may as well rename your romhack to Mario Kart 64 Plus or Mario Kart 64 Remix, it's that good.
Thanks for the feedback. Glad you liked the hack. I am actually working on a more comprehensive overhaul of battle mode which will include even more features an options, and new variations on battle of which hot potato will be one of many. The next version will be called Battle Kart 64.
This is really cool, quick question why not use the three balloons on the back of the cart for your final 3 HP instead of having the counter on the screen?
The short answer is that for "Hot Potato Battle", the hit detection uses the balloon count and resets it from 2 back to 3 after you are hit so I need a different way to track your score. The long answer is that i am working on a much more in depth hack called "Battle Kart 64" which includes Hot Potato Battle as a game mode. If you play a "traditional battle" in Battle Kart 64, and set your HP to 3 or less, the game will use the balloons instead of the onscreen HP display.
wow awesome, does this hack only let you play hot potato mode , say me and my friends wanted to race normally inbetween rounds? is this possible?
This hack only lets you play in battle mode because I had to butcher the rom's code too much and parts of the race code have been overwritten. If you want to race, I recommend keeping a vanilla version of the game/rom lying around so you can switch back and forth.
@@triclon thanks, this mod has been added to our local gaming sessions, should you have any other mp hacks for any thing else please let us know
And now an actual MK64 question - it's my understanding that the disabling of music in 3+ player splitscreen was to free up CPU resources as the N64 doesn't have dedicated audio hardware.
With the existence of N64 CPU overclocking (most commonly used in Smash 64 2v2 team battles), I've always wondered if a mod to re-enable the music would be possible if then combined with an N64 CPU overclock in order to counter-act any reduction in performance.
You can try the following Gameshark code to turn on the music in 3&4 player.
8128EC9C 240E
8128EC9E 0001
8128F9C4 2409
8128F9C6 0001
source: skelux.net/showthread.php?tid=553
There are rom patches that do the same thing floating around somewhere. It adds a slight amount of lag but not as much as you'd think. Most people probably wouldn't even notice. A future version of this hack might toggling the music for 3/4 players as an option. Overclocking your N64 would more than compensate for any lag this might introduce. You might also want to look into disabling the anti-aliasing if you are trying to reduce lag.
@@triclon Beware, lengthy reply.
Thanks, but unfortunately my gaming setup means that I've no simple way to use gameshark codes and still be able to easily play multiplayer N64 games.
I did however discover the 3&4 player music IPS patches by Zoinkity which seem to do the trick, but also I don't have the hardware to run those on a real N64 and it seems to crash in emulators...except for one - Nintendo's own Wii virtual console for MK64 if I inject the modded z64 rom into the VC wad (both NTSC-U versions).
But at least in Dolphin (haven't tried it on my Wii yet), there's a weird issue though where the game ends up running at 25fps/50VI/s when using Zoinkity's music hack, and it's not just PAL slow down either because the audio is noticeably hiccupping in a manner similar to if you enable "audio stretching" in Dolphin and then set Dolphin's emulator speed limit to something like 80% (except I had audio stretching disabled...), and yes I made sure to use the NTSC-U version of the patch as well, and no the unmodified MK64 wad does not exhibit this weird 25fps/50VI/s behavior and runs at 30fps/60VI/s.
Now in Dolphin I can work around the issue by setting its emulation speed limit to 120% and then enabling "audio stretching", but this does still impact the audio quality some and it obviously won't work on an actual Wii console either.
I however find another version on abitalive's github in assembly form that does indeed seem to work in every N64 emulator I threw at it (Cen64, Mupen64plus, PJ64) and so presumably would work on real hardware too considering it worked on Cen64...but I don't have a way to play roms on real N64 hardware, and unfortunately this version ends up crashing at the MK64 title screen if I try to run it injected into the Wii virtual console not to mention the wacky 25fps/50VI/s issue still persist in this version regardless of whether it's a Dolphin version that's not even a week old or a version of Dolphin from 2010.
So yeah...any insight into all of this on how I could get this running correctly on some form or console hardware if all I have is a bone-stock N64 with no gameshark and a softmodded Wii? Perhaps I should submit an issue to abitalive's github with regards to VC compatibility.
@@RinTohsaka64 I have my own code to inject Gameshark codes directly into the rom. I can cook up a custom patch for you later. If there are any other features/Gameshark codes you would like to add (widescreen, disable-anti aliasing, ect.), let me know and I can include those. That should get around the compatibility problem. If you want to use gameshark codes on the stock game on console you will need either a Gameshark or some flash drive like an Everdrive. My hack also runs on an Everdrive on console.
I forgot to mention, if you are just trying to inject Gameshark codes into the unmodified rom, you can try the utility I made here: sites.google.com/view/triclons-mario-kart-64-page/utilities/mario-kart-64-gameshark-code-injector
It won't work on my hack because it would overwrite code the hack uses but I can custom make a patch with gameshark codes added to my hack.
@@triclon I suppose widescreen would also be useful if running through the Wii VC, but I've no idea if no AA would look better or worse through the Wii VC or not, nor if the wacky 25fps/50VI/s bug would persist.
Random odd question - your previous MK64 mod used a BPS patch, but this uses xdelta instead.
Is there a particular reason for the change? I would have thought that you would have either stuck with the same format for both, or for this mod include both BPS and xdelta.
No reason in particular. Either format could work. Most modern patching programs handle both, but I think xdelta might be a newer format so I went with that.
@@triclon Hate to break it to you, but I'm pretty darn sure that xdelta is the older format of the two and byuu's displeasure with that format's complexity is actually one of the driving reasons that he created BPS.
(that is, BPS is simple enough that it can be easily implemented in the emulator itself for soft-patching, but by contrast I'm unaware of any emulator that implements soft-patching for xdelta)
So yeah, for the reason of soft-patching, BPS tends to be the preferred format if you're not the type of person to use existing older formats just because "it's what everybody else has been using for however long regardless of how good or bad the format is" (see: IPS)
@@RinTohsaka64 Okay thanks for letting me know. I will definitely use .bps for future releases if it makes soft patching easier for folks. What about IPS? Is that an even better format or is .bps the way to go?
@@triclon Lawl, IPS is basically the GIF of patching formats whereby it's only used because people don't know of newer, better formats and that it wasn't until more recently that newer formats became much more widely supported, especially since both IPS and GIF are limited in some way (IPS caps at 16MB, GIF caps at 256 colors).
So in this case, IPS = GIF while BPS = APNG
And by that token, xdelta could be compared to MNG which is an older but more complicated format, and both BPS and APNG were created as simpler yet similarly effective replacements.
(btw I made a pretty lengthy edit to my reply on the 3&4 player music comment)
Kinda a shine thief