The DDR Research Master Thread - UPDATED 2023-04-15 - Minor Addition - SOME DDR GB1 Memory Addresses

*watches video*

I thought the E3 version had the JP theme?

The files for the JP theme were buried in the disc and never used for reasons unknown, so U.S. theme (albeit an early version) was used for the E3 version. Even that differs from the final release.

Probably decided that it wasn't worth it to remove the files for that particular build - it is not unusual in prototypes for old assets to pop up. Look at what people have found in prototype builds of Sonic the Hedgehog games, for instance.

Curious if there are any beta banners hidden in the E3 demo files...

white lovers along with HYPTONIC CRISIS are found in the data afaik, maybe there's data of SWEET SWEET LOVE MAGIC since that appeared in a beta screenshot

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I feel like I definitely need help in analyzing, and figuring out this game engine - especially as my life becomes busier and busier. If anyone else here knows how to work with IDA pro, as well as PCSX2DIS, I could send them the IDA Pro project for my DDRMAX2 JP disassembly to work with - marked off the game's main (in-song) loop, score updating function, DP calculating function, and some other stuff, as well as some data points, so it won't be going in the dark completely.

I've started working on a Github repository for my DDR research. This will allow me to keep information extremely organized, in individual folders and files, and easy to modify.

Radical theory time: What if DDR's pre-MAX engine(s), PSX and arcade, recycled code from 5-key beatmania games? I mean, the systems they have in place for timing judgments, etc, would be trivial to carry over, and would be a lot easier to implement and tweak versus creating a whole new system initially, at least. The thought occurred to me when I was looking through the beatmania 5th Mix code that was inadvertently included in beatmania Best Hits, where I noticed similarity in how it kept track to data during a song, and I think would be worth examining further.

So I have successfully replaced a video file in UM2. Basically all you need to do is convert it to XMV with a program (http://www.xbox-hq.com/html/postt27126.html, 3rd reply) and place it in the correct directory on the Xbox.



Some notes:
-HD video freezes the game. Understandable, as the game doesn't run in HD and the console probably can't support HD video files anyway.
-The sync seems to be off a bit, but it's not too bad
-The flash cut to the gameplay screen behaves strangely. I don't get why it's doing this.
-There is lots of lag. It would be best to use a smaller file than 640x480 (at most 360p, but it's probably best to use 400x300 which is what most of the UM2 videos are)
-The video is stored in two locations for me: once in the game folder, and once in another folder in another partition. The second copy is the one that I ended up having to replace, but it might require the replacement of both.

If you want, you could replace Starmine's video with the STRIKE video or the IIDX one.
I do wonder if it's possible to add a video to a song. Since the game uses a BGChanges system, it's probably more difficult than adding a video with the song's title or short code.

That is interesting stuff... never did get around to XBOX mixes (yet, at least) - wonder why the videos are stored in 2 locations. 0_o

My theory is that the second location is some sort of cache. Maybe if you delete the video there it will use the video in the game folder.

Wait, if we can mess with the Ultramix 2 videos, does that also mean we can read/get them? Tough Enough, Starmine, and Superstar all got unique videos in the game that were never reflected in the simfiles, and it'd be great to belatedly rectify that if possible (ditto for the ones from the other Ultramixes, even Ultramix 3 is only partially accounted for at the moment).

Off topic to Xbox mixes, on topic to DDR research: Been exploring the data in pre-MAX DDR mixes, and found, kinda unsurprisingly, that prior mixes still have data definitions with min/max bpm, foot ratings, etc like in MAX onward, but it seems like, on top of generally being shorter in 5th mix, at least, there being data in these definitions that more directly control things like the BGM that loads, the stepchart that loads, etc. - versus that being a bit harder to discern in MAX and later.

The videos are mostly viewable in VLC (Tough Enough, oddly enough, was the only exception I ran into) but I don't know how to get them in a format readable by SM. The XMV file format is a derivative of WMV (what a surprise!) so I don't think it should be too hard to get the videos. In fact, someone already has ripped the videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KxvBFA7-yM&list=PL-gMwWt024vzFYrS3yGz95hdWM-iLx66o

I have converted all from UM1 to UM4, to convert them just use VLC, SUPER, or FFMPEG I haven't uploaded because I just have less than 1MB of upload speed

3 years later, I've actually discovered this works perfectly fine in the EXTREME USA/DDR FESTIVAL/DS FUSION games.



I can make WILD RUSH display the trippy DROP OUT (FROM NONSTOP MEGAMIX) rotating object clips going faster and faster if I wanted to.

Of note in that video, pills3, bunny1, text29, and lady10 are on that disc despite no songs using them.

Using this method, I've actually located three more background videos that haven't been ripped yet:



fire7



lady24



lady25

(lady21 and lady22 I consider the videos in CARRIBEAN QUEEN, lady23 I consider the video in WAITING FOR TONIGHT)

Who knows, switching other items here (such as song names) just might work too. I'll have to play around with that a bit.

Edit: Turns out lady24 and 25 appear in SOMEBODY LIKE YOU, despite claims that used the official music video. How the fuck did I not discover that earlier?



It seems the only actual video left in the dark is fire7.

Whoa! Three more unused videos, two of which involve RHYTHM!? How did we get this far!? :O

Luck, I guess.

I'm not sure how to go about it for Dancing Stage Fusion's videos (7), but for DDR EXTREME's videos (10), I plan to play* until I unlock MAXIMIZER and then replace videos in that song.

*Which is just "playing" a blank edit chart for .59 while using the Max limiter on PCSX2 over and over again. This apparently counts for unlocking stuff.

If I get the screens that look like this:




Then I can crop the bottom right of the screen and encode the videos from there. That means we can finally have accurate scripts for THEME FROM ENTER THE DRAGON and WAITING FOR TONIGHT. :3

I'll take a gander and say that your recordings of these movies will be of probably better quality than what ollec2004 put out on DDR:UK years ago. Finally, after so long...

God damn, I miss that site.

Here's what the videos look like for those curious. :P

All of them in their full 80 frames.

Great job with the videos, Cuzco.

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