Tempest code hacks

Finally put this up on my site. Nothing earth shattering, but fun I suppose.

http://www.ionpool.net/arcade/tempest_code_project/tempest_code_project.html

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Title Tempest Level and Extra Bonus Men Hacks
Version 1.1
Date 03-June-2004
Author Josh McCormick
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+----------.
Background \
+------------`--------------------------------------------------------------.

These modified Tempest ROM files will allow you to (a) select
any level you want (up to 81, the green level), any time you
play, regardless of score; or (b) increase the limit of bonus
lives from 6 to 255 (although at most, only 6 lives will be
displayed at the top of the screen). You can use one hack or
both.

The CRC checksums for each modified ROM are fixed so there will
be no errors reported in the self-test. As it turns out, and
what really makes sense, is that checksums are performed
(at $DA0A) on each individual ROM, so checksum corrections need
only be made on the ROM that is modified.

This information is partly based on my own work, upon the more
recent disassembly and commentary by der Mouse, the work of Mark
Spaeth and the MAME team such that I could test the modified code.

+--------------------------.
Atari Checksum Calculation \
+----------------------------`----------------------------------------------.

Calculating the checksum is interesting, yet simple. First, Tempest is
laid out in ROMs that each cover a $0800 region. For simplicity's sake,
let's number the main program ROMs $0-$B.

What it does is XOR all of the bytes in a ROM together. It then XORs
in the region number (that $0-$B number) to the final figure. It does
this for all ROM regions. If it the result is zero, the checksum for
that ROM passes. If it is non-zero, on the first screen of the Tempest
operator mode, it displays the ROM region number, and the resulting
checksum value.

To correct the checksum, you must find a byte in the ROM that is not
used. Then, XOR that byte with the checksum result above. That'll
return the checksum to zero for that chip, which allows it to pass
self-test.

For example

1] Locate a byte in the ROM which is not used. Lets say that
offset $1AB doesn't appear to be used, and holds a value of $67.

2] Determine what the current checksum error is for that ROM.
This involves going into the operator mode. It'll list the ROM
number and the checksum mismatch for that ROM. Let's say that
the bad checksum value is $FE.

3] To correct the checksum for the ROM, you'll need to XOR the
existing byte with the checksum error. Worse case, you can
use Windows Calculator to do this. Go into Scientific mode.
Enable the Hex button. Type "67", hit the Xor button, type in
"FE". Hit equals. The checksum correction is $99.

4] Go into offset $1AB of the ROM file. Check $67 to $99. You have
now corrected the CRC. The ROM check in operator mode should no
longer report a problem with that ROM. Lather, rinse, and repeat
for additional ROMs.

NOTE I did notice an additional checksum test for just the
copyright notice. You're on your own if you want to modify it.
There isn't any real reason why you should.

It is clear that der Mouse discovered this on his own and clearly
documented it in his code at location $DA0A. I'm assuming I'm the first
to understand the importance of his find, put that discovery into a
practical application.

For reference, here are der Mouse's code comments

; Okay, all RAM passed selftest.
; Checksum ROM. For each $0800 region, XOR all its bytes together and
; XOR in its region number (0 for the first, 1 for the second, etc), then
; store the result in the space at $7d. Ranges for each of the 12 bytes
; $7d - $3000-$37ff
; $7e - $3800-$38ff
; $7f - $9000-$97ff
; $80 - $9800-$9fff
; $81 - $a000-$a7ff
; $82 - $a800-$afff
; $83 - $b000-$b7ff
; $84 - $b800-$bfff
; $85 - $c000-$c7ff
; $86 - $c800-$cfff
; $87 - $d000-$d7ff
; $88 - $d800-$dfff
; All checksums computed and stored in $7d-$88.
; Show any nonzero checksums (stored in the 12 bytes from $7d to $88)

+---------.
The Hack! \
+-----------`---------------------------------------------------------------.

If you want to manually change the code, here are the details

For the .113 ROM, you modify offset (hex) $CD-CE from "90FA"
to "EAE". For checksum, I modified the second byte from BB to D1.

For the .120 ROM, I modified offsex (hex) $2E1 from 06 to FF.
For checksum, I modified hex offset $5E5 from 50 to A9.

NOTE These hacks have been tested to work with Tempest rev1, rev2,
or rev3 ROM sets. I have not tested these hacks on the
prototype sets.

+-----.
Files \
+-------`-------------------------------------------------------------------.

136002.113 [open level hack]
136002.120 [extra bonus men hack]

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Received on Wed Sep 15 15:26:25 2004