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Author Topic: Doing rom hack of Zelda 1  (Read 2 times)
seirj
Guest
« on: February 27, 2008, 09:45:52 pm »
I'm doing a rom hack of Zelda 1, but want to play with the music.
Does anybody have docs or programs for editing the music?
Thanks.
Reaper Man
Guest
« Reply #1 on: February 27, 2008, 10:01:02 pm »
music hacking (especially for the older systems) is very hard and complicated and requires extensive knowledge of the System's CPU/SPU. It's also the reason why there aren't as many docs for it.  If you are new to rom hacking, I would recommend simpler projects first before you tackle something as difficult as this.
Moulinoski
Guest
« Reply #2 on: February 27, 2008, 10:08:12 pm »
These are all the documents on Zelda 1 on RHDN.

I don't know if what you're looking for is in there, though. I didn't check inside the zip files, so don't get too excited and hold your breath over it. Chances are, you probably even saw this already...
seirj
Guest
« Reply #3 on: February 27, 2008, 10:23:38 pm »
Quote from: Reaper Man on February 27, 2008, 10:01:02 pm
music hacking (especially for the older systems) is very hard and complicated and requires extensive knowledge of the System's CPU/SPU. It's also the reason why there aren't as many docs for it.  If you are new to rom hacking, I would recommend simpler projects first before you tackle something as difficult as this.
Nah, I'm not new at it. And if I had rom addresses for the music, it shouldn't be too hard.

Quote from: Garoth Moulinoski on February 27, 2008, 10:08:12 pm
These are all the documents on Zelda 1 on RHDN.

I don't know if what you're looking for is in there, though. I didn't check inside the zip files, so don't get too excited and hold your breath over it. Chances are, you probably even saw this already...
Yeah, I did see that. There is absolutely nothing there about the music. Sad
UglyJoe
Guest
« Reply #4 on: February 27, 2008, 10:36:50 pm »
Data Crystal has a little info about the music on their Zelda Rom Map:

http://www.datacrystal.org/wiki/Legend_of_Zelda:ROM_map

If you setup a read breakpoint on those $D60-$D84 addresses, you may be able to find the game's music engine.
Disch
Guest
« Reply #5 on: February 29, 2008, 12:41:59 pm »
Quote from: Reaper Man on February 27, 2008, 10:01:02 pm
music hacking (especially for the older systems) is very hard and complicated and requires extensive knowledge of the System's CPU/SPU.

This is a common but misleading perception.  The format the music data is stored in seldom requires CPU/APU knowledge.  In fact, it's usually structured in a way that somewhat represents a musical score.  Finding it is no harder a job than finding level data or something of that nature (in fact, it might even be easier, since music data is seldom compressed).

Sliver-X made a doc on this very subject many moons ago.  It's worth a read.
Dr. Floppy
Guest
« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2008, 03:45:15 am »
Dr. Floppy believes he might be of some assistance here. For I am also working on a Legend of Zelda hack, and fully intend to give its soundtrack the Super Catholic Bros. treatment.


Zelda 1 Music Pointers ($ with header)

D70: First two measures of overworld "A" theme
D71: Ganon revealed!
D72: "You Got a Triforce Piece!" fanfare
D73: "You Got an Item!" fanfare
D74: [repeat]
D75: Level 9 theme
D76: Overworld "A" theme (segment)
D77: [repeat]
D78: Overworld "Z" theme (segment leading up to "A" theme)
D79: [repeat]
D7A: "A" Theme measures 3 thru 6
D7B: "A" Theme measures 7 thru 8
D7C: [repeat]
D7D: Overworld "B" theme
D7E: [repeat]
D7F: Underworld Music (part 1)
D80: Underworld Music (part 2)
D81: Endgame Fairy Song (part 1)
D82: Endgame Fairy Song (part 2)
D83: Endgame Fairy Song (part 3)
D84: Endgame Fairy Song (part 4)
D85: Endgame Fairy Song (part 5)
D86: [repeat]
D87: Endgame Fairy Song (part 6)
D88: Endgame Fairy Song (part 7)
D89: Title Screen (part 1)
D8A: Title Screen (part 2)
D8B: Title Screen (part 3)
D8C: Title Screen (part 4)
D8D: Title Screen (part 5)
D8E: [repeat]
D8F: Title Screen (part 6)
D90: Title Screen (part 7)
D91: Title Screen (part VIII)
D92: [repeat]
D93: "You Saved Zelda!" fanfare

("Repeat" refers to a duplicate pointer, not necessarily the one immediately proceeding it in sequence.)


The Music Headers begin at $D94; most are 8 bytes in length, although there are a few exceptions to this rule. In general, the header format is as such:

ABCDEFGH, where

A = Duration offset (this controls tempo)
BC = Music Data Offset (in lo-hi format)
D = Triangle Channel (bassline) offset
E = Pulse 1 Channel (harmony) offset
F = Noise Channel (percussion) offset
G = Intensity (always $80 or $01)
H = Vibrato (ditto?)


Of the eight major songs in the game, only the Title Theme, Fairy/End Credits and Overworld theme contain percussion parts. This doesn't necessarily mean that those songs CAN'T have them, just that they were never used in the original game. I've been rather busy this past month, oftentimes needlessly so, and as such haven't had sufficient time to play around with the music data...  Angry
seirj
Guest
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2008, 05:17:32 pm »
Great stuff Dr. Floppy. Excellent. Thanks!
Jigglysaint
Guest
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2008, 10:38:26 pm »
Those documents seem unsatisfactory to me.  I bet I could do much better.  Oh great, now I got to go hack Zelda too.  You know it's about time somebody made a Zelda game that rivaled Zelda Challenge Outlands.
Dr. Floppy
Guest
« Reply #9 on: March 03, 2008, 01:24:26 am »
Quote from: seirj on March 02, 2008, 05:17:32 pm
Great stuff Dr. Floppy. Excellent. Thanks!

Always happy to be of some assistance! And once I get this four-figure billing error straightened out with the local hospital, I should have ample time to decode the Zelda 1 music engine in its entirety.
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