Creating cheat files?
-
I seem to have hit a snag or I'm just not doing it right. I've successfully edited cheat files and have had them work. Action Replay needs the colon ":" and Game Genie needs the dash "-" and of course the appropriate number of characters per code.
I used a template from Shining Force as my blank and made a new text file and input some codes for Shining in the Darkness. Followed the template exactly and renamed the text file *.cht and even made sure the file names were exactly the same as the rom file. Saved it to the cheats directory and when loading the game and loading RetroArch I get my newly made cheat file showing up in the list.
However, upon loading I don't get the "cheat passes" comment followed by all the 'dip switches' like in all the other cheat files and it usually end up canceling back to the game as if it wasn't loaded. If I attempt to reload the same file again it immediately crashes to Emulation Station.
Am I missing a step or is it time to post verbose logging?
-
Whoops, double post. Stupid phone lag.
-
I'm surprised no one seems to know what I could be missing that's causing the cheat files that I created to crash RetroArch. Especially after I used a template of a different file and followed it perfectly. Any programmers know what in blazes is going on?
I used Game Genie codes but I know that that doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I tried looking for Action Replay codes just to see if that's what is causing the issue in the first place but there don't seem to be any available that I can find for Shining in the Darkness.
Maybe I'll try making a cheat file for a different game and see if I get the same crash. I can get them to show up in the RetroArch cheat list but it just doesn't seem to want to load properly. It's like I'm missing some tag or pointer-file-thing or something simple.
-
@ultrakev9 Since this is RetroArch (and maybe core) specific, I guess there are not many forum dwellers that create or user their own cheat files. Providing a log file with the crash could help, but I'm thinking you'd get more help on the RetroArch forums if someone there has the expertise.
-
I made the current RetroArch cheat file for the NES 'Cheetahmen II' by using another file as a template just like you. There's really not much to it, so it may core related and not necessarily anything you've done wrong. Alongside your crash log, post your cheat file as well.
-
Something else to try is entering the code directly from the menu to see how it behaves.
-
Ah, I'd like to enter it from the menu directly but that seems .... difficult. Can't seem to figure out if there's some hidden virtual keyboard or what but it seems like code entry from the screen just causes very random characters to appear.
I'll see if I can't post the log from the game. That should be a minor exercise in potential frustration but I think I can tackle it.
-
@ultrakev9 said in Creating cheat files?:
Can't seem to figure out if there's some hidden virtual keyboard or what but it seems like code entry from the screen just causes very random characters to appear.
Do you have a physical keyboard to connect? It's a good idea to keep one handy for all manner of troubleshooting throughout RetroPie. If you're saying that you are in fact using a physical keyboard, but are receiving random characters, you probably need to configure your keyboard layout in
raspi-config. -
facepalm
Should've known it was probably something simple. I'll probably tinker with it today when I get the chance. -
Okay, finally after hours of tinkering under the hood I'm finally able to make Shining in the Darkness work with cheats without crashing RetroArch.
I tried changing the core emulator from pico to a different one and that didn't fix it. I tried renaming *.cht files and copying templates directly and that didn't fix it. I tried a different version of the rom with all three Genesis/Megadrive cores and that didn't fix it.
I couldn't seem to figure out how to use my USB keyboard to input cheat codes manually so I painstakingly physically drew by hand a character map using my controller and a pencil.
Eventually, I managed to figure out exactly where all the necessary keystrokes I needed were located and input a couple of codes and they WORKED! I was able to save this data as its own file using RetroArch and (crossing fingers) reloaded the game from scratch and successfully reloaded the newly made cheat file and it indeed works just fine.
I then input all the rest of the codes and the older ones and created a new file to load with the game.
Whew! That was an adventure.
Contributions to the project are always appreciated, so if you would like to support us with a donation you can do so here.
Hosting provided by Mythic-Beasts. See the Hosting Information page for more information.