------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ReadMe-DvD_Translations-Demonic_Castle_Dracula.txt This file should be viewed using a mono-spaced font like "Courier". Use a font size where 79 columns are visible. Please don't distribute the ROM file in patched form. Please don't distribute the DvD_Demonic_Castle_Dracula_revA.ips file without this file. Thanks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DEMONIC CASTLE DRACULA for the Nintendo Famicom Disk System Copyright 1986 by Konami English Translation Copyright 2020 by DvD Translations Patch Version: Rev A Release Date: April 26, 2020 DvD Translations dvdtranslations.eludevisibility.org GAME Translation: DvD Code Editing: DvD Graphics Editing: DvD Testing: DvD, 1AM ReadMe: DvD ----------------------------------- CONTENTS ---------------------------------- INFO (1) Castlevania Game Series (2) If You Read Anything, Read This USING THE PATCH (3) Patching the Disk Image file (4) Playing the Game on a Flash Cart or Emulator TRANSLATION DETAILS (5) Why DvD Chose to Translate THIS Game (6) Why YOU Should Bother Playing THIS Game (7) DvD's Translating & Hacking Comments (8) 1AM's Beta Testing Comments (9) Project Timeline (10) Software Used In This Translation ------------------------------------- INFO ------------------------------------ (1)------------------------ Castlevania Game Series --------------------------- This is a translation of the very first game in the Castlevania series. If you don't already know about this series, then I'm not sure why you are reading this. Here's some things you might not know about the 3 games released on the Famicom. "Akumajou Dracula" was released by Konami for the Famicom Disk System on September 26th, 1986. It was quickly ported to the MSX, released on October 30th, 1986. This version was localized as "Vampire Killer". The FDS game was also quickly ported to the North American Nintendo Entertainment System in May of 1987, adding a two player mode, but lacking the save feature found in the FDS version. "Akumajou Dracula" was even ported to the arcade in 1988 which was localized as "Haunted Castle". There are also versions for the Commodore 64, IBM, and Amiga. Due to the popularity of this game, very late in the Famicom's lifetime, it was ported to cartridge format on February 5th, 1993. The Famicom version, like its North American counterpart lacked any way of saving the game. It did add a whole new ability to start in a easier mode, but a password to save the game with the proper difficulty would have been much better. "Dracula II: Noroi no Fuuin" was released August 28, 1987, also for the FDS. Unlike the first game, this game utilized the extra sound channels of the FDS. It was released in North America as "Castlevania II - Simon's Quest", but without the extra sound channels, the audio had to be simplified, similar to what was done for the Legend of Zelda. Due to the fact that this game was an action RPG, they needed some way to save the game. So, a password save system was created. This game was never released in cartridge form for the Famicom. "Akumajou Densetsu" was released for the Famicom on December 22nd, 1989. This game is one of only three Konami games that utilized the amazing sound capabilities of the Konami VRC6 chip. It was localized in September 1990 as "Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse" highly modifying the music for a cartridge that lacked the VRC6 and drastically changing one of the playable characters. Of course, countless other games in the Castlevania series came out after this. Also, note that the first Game Boy game in the series came out before "Akumajou Densetsu". Don't buy repro carts! They are expensive. They don't support bug fixes for patches because they can't be modified in the future. If they aren't built from scratch they destroy a real cart. Every time a donor cart is used to make a repro, it raises the scarcity and price of that real cart. If you still want to spend your money on a multiple repro carts, instead of buying a single flash cart, buy them from a vendor who only makes carts from scratch with new boards, chips, and housings. (2)-------------------- If You Read Anything, Read This ----------------------- No translated manual is needed for this version of the game since it is exactly the same as Castlevania. Besides being able to save the game, which Castlevania was never able to do, playing this translation of the game also features: * Accurate Title Screen Translation (The exact name was chosen based on a detailed discussion on what the original authors intended the game title to mean.) * Translated main menu, Enter Name, and Erase Name screens (Also finally describes the column of numbers that represents the total number of times a player has died when they saved.) * Able to Use Space in a Player's Name (Since your name is actually displayed in the ending in this FDS version having a name that is less than 7 characters without having periods to pad it makes a big difference.) * Displays the Hi-Score on the Main Menu and Game Over Screens (The Hi-Score completely existed in the save file but was unused for some unknown reason. Why not display it? Since it is unlikely that people playing this game are starting with a clean install of the FDS game, the patch purposely zero's out the Hi-Score so the player can see their copy's personal high score. Also, note that the Hi-Score is only saved if Save is chosen sometime before resetting or turning power off.) * Displays the Last Played Score (Again, the Last Played score also completely existed in the save file, for whatever reason, although it's not very useful. Still, since it existed, why not display it too?) * Automatically Selects the Last Save File Saved (Again, this also existed in the save file, but it was never used. So, I added it.) * Moai hidden treasure now FINALLY animated properly (This is pretty cool. Konami never got this working properly in the North American NES or Japanese Famicom releases. It's likely that they never got it working in any re-release. Since most people never played through the 2nd round, it's unlikely that very many people have even seen this. It's the only hidden treasure that is animated. There are at least two of these. One is on Stage 24 [duck when standing on the first moving platform] and Stage 27 [simply go to the end of the hallway without going up the stairs].) * Localized Simon Belmondo to Simon Belmont in the Ending (Even in Japan, starting with the 2nd game, his name changed to Simon Belmont.) * Secret enhancement to the main menu, Enter Name, and Erase Name screens (See if you can figure it out...) ------------------------------- USING THE PATCH ------------------------------- (3)---------------------- Patching the Disk Image file ------------------------ For this translation, before patching the ROM file, you'll need to expand the ROM file first using a ROM expander. Only one file was expanded, and only by 64 bytes. Game file size: One 2 sided disk 65,500 bytes on each side (36 bytes less than 64k) = 131,000 bytes = 72 bytes less than 128 kBytes How to patch the FDS (Famicom Disk Image) file: You need: 1) A FDS file. The file may or may not include the standard 16 byte iNES header followed by the program disk image data. With header, the FDS file is 131,016 bytes in size. The data in the header doesn't actually matter because ROM Expander Pro is going to replace it anyway. I'm not telling you how to get the FDS file, but once you do, you first need to make sure it is version 1.02 of the game. This patch is not compatible with the 1.00 version of the game. Sorry. Call the FDS file Akumajou Dracula v1.02.fds. 2) "ROM Expander Pro.txt" which is included with this patch. 3) For PC users, use ROM Expander Pro.exe, which you can get from the DvD Translations website. It's pretty self-explanatory. Just make sure your FDS file, called "Akumajou Dracula v1.02.fds", "ROM Expander Pro.txt" and "ROM Expander Pro.exe" are all in the same directory and then run ROM Expander Pro. Regardless of whether your FDS file has a header or not, always choose "Expand and Add/Replace Header" as that is what the patch is expecting. You will get an error saying your MD5 is doesn't match if you don't have a blank save file in your game. It will still expand the FDS properly. Headers are pretty silly on FDS games as all the information is stored in the FDS file, but we've standardized on releasing FDS patches with headers as the patched FDS files with headers are better supported by flash carts. ROM Expander Pro will not modify your original FDS file. It will instead make a copy of the file and modify it calling it "Demonic Castle Dracula.fds". Keep your original file for backup purposes. If you don't own a Windows PC and you don't want to run a Window's virtual machine to run Rom Expander Pro, it can be expanded manually using a hex editor by doing the following steps in the following order: a) Make sure it has the standard FDS header for 2 sided single disk: 46 44 53 1A 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 If not, insert is at byte 0. The fist few bytes after will be 01 2A 4E b) Replace bytes at A5BB through A5BD: 00 61 00 with C0 60 40 c) Insert (don't replace) 64 bytes of FF starting at A5C1 and continuing through A600. This means the previous bytes that started at A5C1 now start at A601. d) Delete any 64 bytes of 00 somewhere between D200 and FFD0. If done right, the final FDS file will be 131,016 bytes. 4) Patch File: DvD_Demonic_Castle_Dracula_revA.IPS 5) An IPS patching program Remember to patch the file only AFTER it has a been expanded. Recommended IPS patching program for IBM PC: Lunar IPS.exe by FuSoYa Recommended IPS patching program for Mac: UIPS by Lucas Newman Using Lunar IPS / UIPS: a) Double-click "Lunar IPS" / "UIPS" b) Click "Apply IPS Patch" / "Apply Patch" c) Choose "DvD_Demonic_Castle_Dracula_revA.ips" e) Choose "Demonic Castle Dracula.fds" (4)------------- Playing the Game on a Flash Cart or Emulator ---------------- All emulators and flash carts that can play the original FDS file can play the translation. The game is a single 2 sided disk. Even if your emulator or flash cart automatically flips the disk when necessary, no content will be missed because disk flips only occur after the user takes an action. The PowerPak flash cart emulates it perfectly, automatically flipping the disk when necessary. I have not tested this on an EverDrive-N8 flash cart, but it should work fine. ----------------------------- TRANSLATION DETAILS ----------------------------- (5)------------------ Why DvD Chose to Translate THIS Game -------------------- I had 1AM play this version of the game so that he could save his game. Just before he finished it, I decided I might as well translate the title screen and menu screens as a simple project. Also, I was considering translating Dracula II so he could play it with the extra sound channels, so I felt like this game should be done first. (6)---------------- Why YOU Should Bother Playing THIS Game ------------------- Unfortunately, the thought of making a password save system was overlooked when this game was released on cartridge in North America and so we had to play the entire game in one sitting. This is especially problematic for people who want to play the 2nd, harder round which is a lot of fun; it includes more enemies, new hidden treasures (including a 1-up and an animated spinning Moai), and more hidden food. Fortunately, Castlevania still has infinite continues, but who wants to leave their NES on for days on end, cooking their console and cartridge, hoping that a power failure won't occur without the ability to play another game? Until I made this patch, I probably never played the 2nd round past stage 23. But, I'm really enjoying the challenge and being able to save. It almost feels like playing a new Castlevania game. And why not also enjoy all the other new features including saving your Hi-Score and finally seeing the animated Moai hidden treasure? Castlevania is one of the greatest game series ever made. Play the original version we never got to play and finally understand the real title. (7)------------------ DvD's Translating & Hacking Comments -------------------- Well, before anything could be done I had to crack the copy protection system. So, in my typical fashion, I disassembled the game using Table Dumper Pro and eventually could do just about anything to the game. Then, I worked on the title screen, which of course, had a compressed layout. Fortunately, the tile-set was not compressed. Before spending time on the graphics for the new title, I spent a lot of time researching the best translation of the title. There was a great reddit discussion on this: https://www.reddit.com/r/translator/comments/ 7p3sdl/japanese_english_akumaj%C5%8D_dorakyura/ From this discussion it's clear to me that the main title is "Castle Dracula" or "Dracula's Castle" with "Demon" describing the castle, NOT that Dracula is a Demon. They proposed "Demon Castle Dracula". In the end, "Demonic Castle Dracula" seemed to better convey the intent that the the castle was demonic. It does seem like the best title screen would be: Demonic CASTLE DRACULA But, only Dracula was written in the large dripping font in Japanese. Just writing Dracula in the main font was both more ascetically pleasing and in reality it was the only way to have enough unique tiles to actually make the screen with the limitations of the NES. But, it lacked the cool flying bat of the Castlevania title screen. Well, why not add the bat? Since this screen is scrolling simulating film going by, where Castlevania's is not, it didn't make sense to also animate the bat. So, I placed it statically on the title and I think it really spruced it up. Of course, once this was done, I had to translate everything else. This meant menu screens and the ending. While, forcing the ending to occur, I saw that it was in English already. So, I worked on the menu text. And, something had to be done with those skeletons and I had one spare tile left... Next, the fact that I couldn't have anything but a 7 letter name without having periods for spaces really bothered me. So, I corrected this on and, of course, I now had to modify the ending to handle this properly. While 1AM was playing, to keep using my new hack, I had to be able to swap out the save file. So, I learned everything about the save file. It was then that I discovered the game completely handled the Hi-Score but never displayed it! Wow, this had to be put back. And it also saved the Last Score, maybe so that a demo screen didn't overwrite it, but since that doesn't exist, it really has no purpose. Well, might as well display this too. Displaying both on the Main Menu and only the Hi-Score on the Game Over screen made the most sense but posed some challenges. And, lastly there was a byte that saved which save file was selected last. Might as well use this too. And, might as well put that copy protection back in... And that was it, for months. I had started a new project and while playing through the Alpha patch. 1AM passed it as well. We both made it to Level 2, saving on Stage 23. But, trying to pass Level 2 was tough. I did notice in Level 2 that it had food that was missing on the normal round of the game, but it really didn't help because getting it was tough. And one day I discovered a curious hidden treasure that looked like something was broken on Stage 24. But, I wasn't in the mood to tackle it right away, and eventually passed Level 2. But then I quickly found another one of the glitchy treasures on Level 3, Stage 27. Now I had to figure out what was going on so that I could fix it to prove that my hack didn't break the game. It didn't take to long to confirm what I thought this was: the ubiquitous Moai made his presence in another Konami game! Now, how to fix this? Holy cow, fixing it was... fun. Every sprite in this game is handled by a 28 element array of 24 byte UDTs. 672 bytes of RAM just for this, a whole third of the NES memory! Once I figured out this and the complex format of the table that described how the sprites associated with Moai were defined, it was a simple matter of adjusting some constants and bingo, it worked. It really looks cool. It's such a shame no one has seen it until now. I tweaked the values in the FDS file and adjusted the copy protection and then started working on this ReadMe. I felt I should check if this was fixed in Castlevania. It wasn't. Someone had to have noticed this and Konami fixed it in '93 Japanese version, right? No, not in that one either! So, if you make it through Stage 27, congratulations, you are one of the first people to actually see this as a rotating Moai instead of a weird flashing face. (8)---------------------- 1AM's Beta Testing Comments ------------------------- I started playing the game before it was translated so that I could save the game. Before I finished, DvD translated the game. I feel the translation helps me get back into the game when I stop for a while because it remembers that I played last and my last score. I also like that I can understand what the number on the right means on the main menu screen. I really like the secret DvD put on the menu screens. The normal game is very hard, but the infinite number of continues and this version's ability to save, make it easier than Contra. I'm playing it on Hard mode. You should definitely pay attention when you play the Normal version first. When you play it on Hard, you don't have many lives left when reaching the boss. This makes it difficult to experiment with how to fight them. So if you plan on playing the Hard mode, you should write down where items for successful boss methods are and write down the methods and/or boss weak spots. I love the fact that the Moai strikes again in another Konami game. DvD found it first, but I found the 1-Up hidden power up on Stage 25. (9)---------------------- Project Timeline Highlights ------------------------- Jan 31 2020 - Stared on the project Split FDS files Researched the new title Created the first new Title Screen Mock-up Feb 2 2020 - Title screen completed without bat Feb 6 2020 - Bat added to Title screen Feb 9 2020 - Menu screens in English and Space is a selectable in a player name - Fixed graphic manipulations on each menu screen Feb 17 2020 - Dynamic graphic manipulations on each menu screen Feb 22 2020 - Ending edited Alpha version 1 testing started Apr 5 2020 - Proper Moai animation graphics figured out Moai code reasearch started Apr 11 2020 - ReadMe started IPS patch file completed RomExpander Pro File completed Apr 26 2020 - ROM translation released along with Bomberman and Nekketsu Fighting Lengend (10)------------- Software & Hardware Used In This Translation ---------------- * Emulator FCEUX 2.2.2 (FCEUX 2.2.3 has too many problems) by zeromus, adelikat * Disassembler, Table Dumper, Relative Seacher Table Dumper Pro (ver 20.02.29) by DvD * Hex Editors Beyond Compare 4.3.4 by Scooter Software * Tile Editors Tile Layer Pro 1.0 by Kent Hansen * Disassembled code manipulation, script editing, ReadMe creation, & ROM Expander Pro file editing Notepad++ by Don Ho and the rest of the Notepad++ team * Project management OpenOffice Calc (Part of OpenOffice 4.1.5) by Apache * IPS Patch File Creator Lunar IPS by FuSoYa * ROM Expansion ROM Expander Pro 12.8.12 by DvD * Alpha Testing on a real NES PowerPak by retroUSB ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 987654321098765432109876543210987654321 123456789012345678901234567890123456789