Hacked into the park's systems to bring forth a save feature. All that was needed was guessing the magic word!
Joking aside, the lack of a save feature is one of JP's biggest flaws. Obviously, it doesn't matter as much nowadays with the advent of savestates, but that doesn't excuse it. Just because there is a workaround to the problem doesn't mean the problem doesn't exist.
Turns out, don't blame the developers for not implementing a save feature, because this game has a lot of stuff to save. The SRAM needs to be 64 KB minimum for just 1 save file and 128 KB to have the standard 3 save files. Why? Because this game keeps track of the state of every single sprite that's located outdoors. In order to put the game into the same state between play sessions, it had to save every single one of those exterior sprite RAM addresses. Interior sprites are not kept track of anywhere close to as extensively by comparison.
In order for this save feature to work, the title screen also had to change so it would support a file select. Due to the 8BPP title screen image using up all but one palette row and the compressed files being in RNC format (a format that maybe Lunar Compress doesn't support), there were some limitations to deal with to make this work. But, it was a good enough job.
Anyway, to use this, apply it to a V1.0 (Header) USA Jurassic Park ROM and the game will autosave every time you enter/exit a building, die, or touch a communication pole. And yes, it works with the Jurassic Park randomizer.
A couple of extra notes about this patch:
* The game will autosave when you start a new game, after respawning after death, and whenever a checkpoint is triggered, which means it will occur when you touch a pole, when entering a building, or when you appear outside after leaving a building.
* In addition, the original title screen menu will be replaced with a new one to allow selecting a file.
* As a bonus, the new title screen menu will also contain a song test. When the cursor is hovering over that option, press A/B to increment the song ID, X/Y to decrement it, and select to play that music.
Jurassic Park Save Feature Patch
by yoshifanatic
----------------------------------------------------------------
I have hacked into the park's systems to bring forth a save feature. All I had to do was guess the magic word!
Joking aside, the lack of a save feature is one of JP's biggest flaws. Obviously, it doesn't matter as much nowadays with the advent of savestates, but that doesn't excuse it. Just because there is a workaround to the problem doesn't mean the problem doesn't exist.
Turns out, I don't blame the developers for not implementing a save feature, because this game has a lot of stuff to save. The SRAM needs to be 64 KB minimum for just 1 save file and 128 KB to have the standard 3 save files. Why? Because this game keeps track of the state of every single sprite that's located outdoors. In order to put the game into the same state between play sessions, I had to save every single one of those exterior sprite RAM addresses. Interior sprites are not kept track of anywhere close to as extensively by comparison.
In order for this save feature to work, I also had to change the title screen so it would support a file select. Due to the 8BPP title screen image using up all but one palette row and the compressed files being in RNC format (a format I don't think Lunar Compress supports), there were some limitations I had to deal with to make this work. But, I think I did a good enough job.
Anyway, to use this, apply it to a V1.0 USA Jurassic Park ROM and the game will autosave every time you enter/exit a building, die, or touch a communication pole. And yes, it works with the Jurassic Park randomizer.
A couple of extra notes about this patch:
* The game will autosave when you start a new game, after respawning after death, and whenever a checkpoint is triggered, which means it will occur when you touch a pole, when entering a building, or when you appear outside after leaving a building.
* In addition, the original title screen menu will be replaced with a new one to allow selecting a file.
* As a bonus, the new title screen menu will also contain a song test. When the cursor is hovering over that option, press A/B to increment the song ID, X/Y to decrement it, and select to play that music.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a list of what is saved:
- Objective clear flags, except the one for boarding the helicopter, since that one wouldn't make sense.
- Current checkpoint X/Y/Z position
- Collected ID cards
- Collected batteries
- Security level
- Motion Sensors Active flag
- Current primary and secondary weapon and their ammo
- Current life count
- How many eggs are remaining
- The latest message you got from touching a pole.
- Damage taken
- Which gates are open/closed
- The flags that indicate what dinosaurs you killed in the interior areas
- The state of every exterior sprite
- High score data
- The music and sound setting on the title screen
----------------------------------------------------------------
Apply this to V1.0 USA Jurassic Park ROM:
* Header:
Database match: Jurassic Park (USA)
Database: No-Intro: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (v. 20210222-050638)
File CRC32: 3D4CBD28
File MD5: FFF67292F2E5C9A968D11BCA52FDC1F6
File SHA-1: 60C9BB3BE082B0FA91B27300F6395F3067C82D46
File SHA-256: 1F4B0C48DC871206FFF782BAF4F3098AB2E3E7153E2E0688A8661B1B44C61906
* Unheader:
Database match: Jurassic Park (USA)
Database: No-Intro: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (v. 20210222-050638)
File/ROM CRC32: 77540CB9
File/ROM MD5: BB9C2F667CED16A2E605B385C041C744
File/ROM SHA-1: DCF24B8BCBDA766FFAFDEBFD39AAD073C18176F3
File/ROM SHA-256: FE91D45201753AE9655D5CE38838E352F478B26B2D933C1BCB5BD8330121F9FF
----------------------------------------------------------------
Links of interest:
* Jurassic Park (SNES) Disassembly:
https://github.com/Yoshifanatic1/Jurassic-Park-1-SNES-disassembly
* Jurassic Park (SNES) Randomizer (v1.1):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yczfygxlskvt9em/Jurassic%20Park%20Randomizer.zip?dl=0
* Original "Jurassic Park Save Feature Patch" thread post:
https://smwc.me/1584943
* YoshiFanatic's Discord Server:
https://discord.gg/TUDwsCg
----------------------------------------------------------------
HEADER ROM:
Database match: Jurassic Park (USA)
Database: No-Intro: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (v. 20210222-050638)
File CRC32: 3D4CBD28
File MD5: FFF67292F2E5C9A968D11BCA52FDC1F6
File SHA-1: 60C9BB3BE082B0FA91B27300F6395F3067C82D46
File SHA-256: 1F4B0C48DC871206FFF782BAF4F3098AB2E3E7153E2E0688A8661B1B44C61906
ROM CRC32: 77540CB9
ROM MD5: BB9C2F667CED16A2E605B385C041C744
ROM SHA-1: DCF24B8BCBDA766FFAFDEBFD39AAD073C18176F3
ROM SHA-256: FE91D45201753AE9655D5CE38838E352F478B26B2D933C1BCB5BD8330121F9FF
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEADERLESS ROM:
Database match: Jurassic Park (USA)
Database: No-Intro: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (v. 20210222-050638)
File/ROM CRC32: 77540CB9
File/ROM MD5: BB9C2F667CED16A2E605B385C041C744
File/ROM SHA-1: DCF24B8BCBDA766FFAFDEBFD39AAD073C18176F3
File/ROM SHA-256: FE91D45201753AE9655D5CE38838E352F478B26B2D933C1BCB5BD8330121F9FF