Skies of Arcadia - Perfect 60Hz RGB+VGA (Desync Fix) Patch RELEASE

[Riggles]

This patch fixes all of the issues with the 60Hz patched PAL version by Japanese_cake.
Undoing the various PAL optimizations to make this the perfect release for all region Dreamcast
users with CRT TV's (15kHz RGB) as well as those wanting to play the game in either English,
Spanish, German or French with intended animation timings at 60Hz RGB, VGA and Composite.

- Audio in cutscenes are all in sync 1:1 with the JP/US release, no more drifting delayed audio.
- SFX's are also reverted to the JP/US release ones as these also were 50Hz optimized.
- Walking speed is now the exact value as the JP/US release.
- Animation tied to streamed music is reverted to JP/US speed (intro). (v1.1)
- Region-Free
- RGB, VGA, Composite, all in 60Hz with multi-language support for the first time without issues.

Skye from the Skies of Arcadia discord is working on a big QoL improvement hack based on this
release, if you're on the fence on playing the game, consider waiting for it.
It'll both restore censorship and re-balance things like the notoriously high encounter rate,
restoring the website function and touching up various other aspects of game.

But if all you want is a vanilla release of Skies of Arcadia but with 60Hz RGB and perfect timings, then this is for you : )

Here's a video with audio of what the previous 60Hz patch did to cutscenes:
https://imgur.com/d8DSEdh
Note how delayed the gate breaking sound is. Cutscenes in this restored version have been
timed with the US release to ensure everything plays as intended.

If you still want the incorrect faster walking speed from the Japanese_cake release you can
follow the optional instructions in the readme. Admittedly movement being slightly faster does
feel pretty nice. It only affects movement (ie walking-running) as climbing, attacks etc were
all unoptimized for the PAL release, so those all play at the correct speed here.

Thanks to:
Japanese_cake - For the original 60Hz VGA patch.
Pomegd and Noseguy - For investigating the original float values for the walking speed.
Derek (ateam) - For tips with setting up the ROM disassembly and memory searching.
Angelrenard and Wonder-inc - For confirming no desync with VGA+RGB 60Hz on PAL+NTSC-U Dreamcasts.
Skye - For working on a Quality of Life project that builds on this release as a base.

V1.1
- Fixes intro cinematic, one of the few streamed music tracks.
Turns out they sped up the animation to match the PAL speed, unlike other music that's tied to midi tables.
This is now reverted to the US files and doesn't desync anymore.

V2.0
- Fixes Spanish/French/German mode texture loading for streamed audio cutscenes (black text on white intro screen)
Additionally did a full search through all of the ~400 script files to confirm if there are any PAL optimizations left.
Fixed ending cinematic timings (probably still worked in v1.1, but now has the intended file with PAL optimizations undone instead)
I undid optimizations in the 250A scripts (identical on both discs), unused duplicate ending data, real ending is in 298A,
removed the optimizations anyway. Upgrade to 2.0 to be sure you won't encounter any desyncs with the ending.
This should be the Final version release as all script files have been analyzed. 

GDEmu info, unrelated to this mod and happens to all retail releases of Skies of Arcadia:
pre-5.20 firmware will get an intro animation freeze at the final 20 seconds (pressing start works like normal here),
upgrade to v5.20 which updates disc access speeds, hopefully there's a fix for this minor issue for those stuck with v5.15.

Release:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oiXM5y ... sp=sharing

[MoeFoh]

Amazing work! More projects, if your interested. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (U) & Last Blade 2 (U), add VGA support to these 240p titles. TapamN did this for Bangai-O (U) 240p, so maybe you can get some ideas from his work. There's a thread on this website.

[MD_Prometh]

That QoL hack sounds interesting, will it be compatible with the undub?

[Riggles]

That QoL hack sounds interesting, will it be compatible with the undub?

Yeah it sounds great, it's been WIP for a while, but now the target base version that's getting the modifications will be this one since it has both RGB60+VGA, that and more languages which previously only had 50Hz or desynced 60Hz. (though I don't think the translation additions will be done to these languages, idk yet). Either case, at the very least CRT TV users don't have to worry about not being able to play it in RGB on their setups.


List of Skye's planned/worked on features, from the Skies of Arcadia forum:

Skies of Arcadia: Captain's Cut WORK IN PROGRESS (11-09-24 build)
Directed and produced by Skye "Rocket" Meredith
Programming by Noseguy, fafadou, pomegd, r3nz0, and Skye Meredith Tools by ADnova, japanese-cake, Paul "Sappharad" Kratt, and SadNES Script edits by Skye Meredith
Intro and title screen art by Skye Meredith
Special thanks to Cody Collins, Joshua Idlewild, fenix.eldritch, and Calavera87
Original game "Skies of Arcadia" / "Eternal Arcadia" - created by Rieko Kodama and her team at SEGA / OVERWORKS
=====================
Current features
=======
==========
* Updated title screen (and header, for emulators, GDEMU, etc) * Rieko Kodama intro tribute
* Dramatically lowered encounter rates
* 2x experience gained from battles
* 2x magic experience gained from battles
* 2x gold gained from battles
* Discoveries are now visible in the overworld from the start get hunting!
* Rewrote Discoveries tutorial to accommodate this
* Rewrote Captain's Stripe tutorial to accurately explain what it does, give it a little more in-universe mystique, and not give the erroneous impression that using it only affects the current ship
* Rewrote Pirate's Isle tavern scene (and its NPC dialogue afterward) restoring the original JP intent + combining it with the US prototype version and the US release version all rolled into one
* Dyne's cigar restored from the JP version
* Willy's cigar restored from the JP version
* Sailor's Island weapons merchant's cigar restored from the JP version
* Drunk NPC on Sailor's Island restored from JP version. When something happens out in the world, he's sure to have heard of it - come back and visit during your journey and see what he says!
* Belleza's outfit restored from JP version
* Vigoro's outfit restored from JP version
* Ramirez's blood restored from JP version
* The WEBSITE option on the title screen now directs you to a restored archive.org capture of the old page (some parts are lost to time, so consider this just a fun curiosity!)

[MD_Prometh]

Very interesting, sounds like a big improvement. Will it'll work with the DLC?

[fafadou]

The dlcs should work.

[Sears R.]

I'm a little curious, what got censored in the us version compared to the jp version, just the smoking and alcohol? I'll say, I really HOPE the encounter rates get lowered, it's feels like I get in a fight every 30 seconds per area.

[ciscollo]

I was watching the main intro and when I saw that type of gray dolphin... the image remained stuck and I couldn't finish seeing the intro...?

[Riggles]

Updated the patch to v1.1

- Fixes intro cinematic, one of the few streamed music tracks.
Turns out they sped up the animation to match the PAL speed, unlike other music that's tied to midi tables.
This is now reverted to the US files and doesn't desync anymore.


Should be no more missed stuff, but playtesters are still appreciated : )

[fafadou]

Thanks you @Riggles