2013-06-06 03:00:10 +00:00
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exhal / inhal
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2013-10-24 21:54:38 +00:00
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HAL Laboratory NES/SNES/GB (de)compression tools
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(version 1.10)
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2013-06-06 03:00:10 +00:00
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by Devin Acker (Revenant), 2013
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2013-10-25 02:08:05 +00:00
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https://github.com/devinacker
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2013-06-06 03:00:10 +00:00
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exhal and inhal are tools designed to decompress and recompress/insert data used by several NES,
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SNES and Game Boy games developed by HAL Laboratory.
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Due to the design of the original decompression algorithm (and hardware limitations), the size of
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a file to be compressed is limited to 64 kilobytes (65,536 bytes). Please note that depending on
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which system you are working with, the actual useful limit may be much smaller.
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2013-10-24 21:54:38 +00:00
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Files compressed using exhal can often be smaller than their original compressed forms in the
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source ROMs, likely due to some shortcuts taken by the original development tools. In addition,
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version 1.10 nicely optimizes the compression process and is about 4x faster than before.
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2013-10-25 02:12:48 +00:00
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Source code is available at https://github.com/devinacker and is released under the terms of the
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MIT license. See COPYING.txt for legal info.
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2013-06-06 03:00:10 +00:00
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To use exhal (the decompressor):
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exhal romfile offset outfile
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To insert compressed data into a ROM:
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inhal [-fast] infile romfile offset
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To write compressed data to a new file:
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inhal [-fast] -n infile outfile
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Offsets can be specified in either hexadecimal (recommended) or decimal.
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Using the -fast switch results in compression which is about 3 to 4 times faster, but with
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2013-10-24 21:54:38 +00:00
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slightly larger output data. Use this if you don't care about data sizes being 100% optimal.
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2013-06-06 03:00:10 +00:00
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This is a list of games which are known to use the supported compression method, or are assumed
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to, based on a binary search of the games' ROMs:
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Adventures of Lolo (NES/GB)
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Adventures of Lolo 2 (NES)
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Adventures of Lolo 3 (NES)
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Alcahest (SNES)
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Arcana / Card Master (SNES)
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EarthBound / Mother 2 (SNES)
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Ghostbusters II (GB)
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HAL's Hole in One Golf / Jumbo Ozaki no Hole in One (SNES)
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HyperZone (SNES)
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Itoi Shigesato no Bass Tsuri No. 1 (SNES)
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Kirby no KiraKira Kids (SNES)
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Kirby Super Star (SNES)
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Kirby's Adventure (NES)
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Kirby's Dream Course / Kirby Bowl (SNES)
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Kirby's Dream Land (GB)
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Kirby's Dream Land 2 (GB)
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Kirby's Dream Land 3 (SNES)
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Kirby's Pinball Land (GB)
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Kirby's Star Stacker / KiraKira Kids (GB)
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NES Open Tournament Golf (NES)
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New Ghostbusters II (NES)
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Othello World (SNES)
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Okamoto Ayako to Match Play Golf (SNES)
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Revenge of the Gator / 66 Hiki no Wani Daikoushin (GB)
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SimCity (SNES) [unused?]
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SimCity 2000 (SNES)
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Special Tee Shot (BS-X)
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Super Famicom Box BIOS (SNES)
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Trax / Totsugeki! Ponkotsu Tank (GB)
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Vegas Stakes (SNES/GB)
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Also note, unfortunately, that exhal cannot automatically detect or locate compressed data.
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The included file "gamenotes.txt" contains an incomplete list of decompression routine addresses
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to make searching easier.
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These tools were originally used in the development of my Kirby's Dream Course editor. I hope you
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find your own exciting use for them. (I'm not the only Kirby hacker in the West, right? *sob*)
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Contact me:
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Email : d at revenant1.net
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IRC : "devin" on irc.badnik.net
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"Revenant" on irc.oftc.net
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"Revenant`" on irc.synirc.net
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and irc.dal.net
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Forums: http://jul.rustedlogic.net/profile.php?id=504
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http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=10455
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Special thanks to:
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- andlabs for helping me make the list of supported games
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- BMF54123 for naming the programs
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2013-10-22 21:02:37 +00:00
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- Tiiffi for misc. Mac OS X build fixes
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2013-06-06 03:00:10 +00:00
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- You for downloading (and using?) my software
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