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Latest (SA-1)

This version should be used by any system that can properly emulate the SA-1 with 256kb of BWRAM.

Compatible systems:

• SD2SNES
• SNES Classic (with RetroArch)
• Mesen-S
• higan/bsnes v115+
• bsnes+
• snes9x 1.6+
• faust

Randomizer (SA-1)

This version is slightly modified from the main version to include several randomizer features:

• Major items are replaced with E
• No item text
• No crystal cutscenes
• Bottle submenu is accessed with X, instead of automatically
• Pressing Y on a bottle in the menu will select the next bottle
• Quick swap (DISGUSTING!)
• Hammerable Ganon

v13.6.0 (Old)

This is a snapshot of the pre-SA-1 practice hack. It will no longer be updated and only serves as a fallback for incompatible systems.

List of shame:

• Everdrive
• SuperNT jailbreak
• BizHawk's bsnes core (v85)
• Canoe (SNES Classics will give a C7 error for the SA-1 ROM)

Common concerns

How accurate is lag compared to the vanilla game?

As of version 14, very; about 1/10th of a scanline off. Here's a quick rundown of how it works:

SA-1

The SA-1 is a coprocessor that can be used alongside the main SNES CPU. It can run code faster, but, more importantly, it can run at the same time as the SNES CPU without slowing it down. This allows the practice hack to handle certain features with minimal lag change from vanilla. Due to the limitations on memory access, not every feature can be handled lag-free on the SA-1.

Features that run on the SA-1 will be marked with this badge: ^SA1.

Implementation

There are specific routines that get run at the beginning and end of every frame to manage the OAM buffer. The clearing routine isn't coded very efficiently, so it's been optimized to about twice its original speed. The SNES CPU then sends an interrupt request which tells the SA-1 to process controller input for shortcuts. If a shortcut is found, a vector pointing to its routine in ROM will be saved in memory. The next frame, the SNES will check for this vector, and respond accordingly.

For the game HUD, almost every reference to its WRAM buffer has been changed to a location in BWRAM where the SA-1 can see it. Once the HUD's buffer has been modified by the game, it copies a handful of variables that are only visible to the SNES CPU into memory that is visible to both the SNES and the SA-1. This is where most of the time saved with OAM optimization is accounted for. After these variables are copied, the SNES sends another interrupt request to the SA-1 to indicate that the coprocessor can do its own changes to the tilemap before it gets drawn to the screen. Some features (such as the hearts) are still written to their original WRAM buffer. This way, they can contribute their normal CPU load without ruining the HUD.

On any frame where the HUD doesn't update, a separate check makes sure that these variables are still copied over, as this copying is critical to balancing the practice hack back in line with vanilla. The rest of the code hacked in is very minimal, and those few extra cycles are very unlikely to create additional lag frames.

Certain features require more variables to be copied over than others. These will necessarily require a slightly higher fraction of the CPU's time, but they will only take this time when the HUD is redrawn. Such features will be marked with this badge: ^EX.

My system isn't supported! Update the older hacks!

No.

The change to SA-1 included a complete overhaul of the backend code. Adding new features to both versions would require maintaining two completely separate codebases and writing almost every feature twice. I simply cannot allow my ability to improve this project be inhibited by inferior applications or devices that do not properly emulate expansion chips. You may think it's not fair that I'm ignoring your system, but what's actually not fair is holding everyone else back from a better practice hack.

Known issues (link)

• Lag from mosaics can be inaccurate, depending on what you've already done in your current play session. I'm still investigating the best way to approach this problem.
• Giving your sword to the smith will result in a BAD VAL in the equipment menu. I don't have an elegant solution for this yet.

Trouble shooting

• Holding Start and Select during power on will reset all configurations to their defaults. When you do this, you will hear Link screaming as he falls to his death.
• If something in the menu goes out of range, you will be warned with "BAD VAL". Press X to clear it.

Caveats

It's impossible to modify anything this much without sacrificing some behavior. This section details known caveats that should be taken into consideration by the user.

Overlay corruption and the SA-1

The memory layout of the SA-1 puts important hardware registers and on-board memory in an area potentially affected by overlay corruption. To prevent corruption to the SA-1, the star tile holes routine will be intercepted if it is about to write too far. This will have some effect on the timing of longer corruptions.

When cut short, the practice hack will continue reading without writing to see how far the writes would have gone. If they reach too far ($4200), then a blue screen of death will be displayed to explain the intentional lock.

In addition to the writing, this type of corruption may also read too far. This does not have the potential to corrupt the SA-1, but it does throw the behavior out of sync from vanilla. Normally, corruption that reaches this far should terminate at the address $4307; however, the values read from SA-1 registers and memory prevent that precise target from being hit. To guarantee that corruption resolves, a large block of memory from $3680 to $37FF has been filled with the necessary terminator value. This solution necessarily means that far-reaching corruption will end much sooner than it normally would, making timings unreliable.

Features list

Main menu

Presets

Built in states for various categories

Items

Modify Y-item loadout

Equipment

Modify A-items, combat items, health, and keys

Game state

Modify game progress, status, and mode

Link state

Modify player character attributes

Gameplay

Feature toggles related to gameplay

RNG control

Fix specific RNG calls to specific values

HUD extras

Toggle features that appear on the HUD

Lite states

Custom presets

Room master

Load rooms and view/edit room flags

Shortcuts

Modify shortcuts for quick feature access

Preset config

Controls how presets load

Configuration

Configuration toggles related to meta-operation

Presets

Collections of presets that can be loaded to practice various parts of various runs. The category listed can be changed in the preset config menu.

If a category you want to practice does not have presets, you can help by making them. Instructions for doing so are listed here.

Items

Bow

1. No
2. Normal
3. Silver

Boom

1. No
2. Blue
3. Red

Hookshot

Yes/No

Bombs

0–30

Powder

1. No
2. Mushroom
3. Powder

Fire rod

Yes/No

Ice rod

Yes/No

Bombos

Yes/No

Ether

Yes/No

Quake

Yes/No

Lantern

Yes/No

Hammer

Yes/No

Flute

1. No
2. Shovel
3. Inactive flute
4. Active flute

Net

Yes/No

Book

Yes/No

Bottles

For each bottle (1–4):

1. No
2. Unobtainable shroooom
3. Empty
4. Red potion
5. Green potion
6. Blue potion
7. Fairy
8. Bee
9. Good bee

Somaria

Yes/No

Byrna

Yes/No

Cape

Yes/No

Mirror

Yes/No

Equipment

Health

Current health. Fractional hearts are indicated with a bar.

Max HP

Max health in hearts.

Magic

Set magic points.

Fill rupees

Grants 999 rupees

Fill everything

Grants full equipment with just below max health and magic.

Sword

1. No
2. Fighter
3. Master
4. Tempered
5. Gold

Shield

1. No
2. Fighter
3. Red
4. Mirror

Armor

1. Green jerkin
2. Blue
3. Red

Gloves

1. No
2. Power glove
3. Titan's mitts

Boots

Yes/No

Flippers

Yes/No

Moon pearl

Yes/No

Half magic

Yes/No

Heart pieces

0–3

Bombs

0–30

Arrows

0–50

Keys

0–9

Big keys

Toggle big keys for each dungeon.

Small keys

Key counts for each dungeon.

Game state

Skip text

Skips the current text box.

Remove sprites

Removes all sprites, overlords, and ancillae from the screen.

Reset dungeons

Resets every room associated with a specific dungeon (including all non-dungeon rooms as a single group) following these rules:

• Quadrants visited
• Keys collected
• Chests opened
• Doors opened
• Moving walls
• Water level
• Boss defeated
• Heart collected
• Rupee tiles collected

NOTE: This only affects the data pertaining to that specific room, but not data pertaining to the dungeon as a whole. For example, even though key collection is reset, the key count for that dungeon is left unaltered.

Toggle bosses defeated

Modifies the boss defeated room flag for the specific boss's room.

Pendants and crystals

Toggle collection status of each dungeon prize.

Game flags

Toggles miscellaneous SRAM flags:

Uncle dead

Talking to uncle in the secret passage

Sanc priest

Talking to the priest after mastersword

Escaped

Returning Zelda to sanctuary

Uncle left

Uncle leaving the house

Aginah

Aginah discussing book

Fortune cycle

Fortune teller hint selector

Hobo bottle

Got bottle from hobo

Vendor bottle

Bought bottle in Kakariko

Stumpy

Stumpy turned into a tree

Purple chest

Unlocked purple chest

Smithy rescued

Saved the frog

Tempering

Smiths currently have your sword for tempering

Drops

Submenu for controlling drop luck, rupee pulls, and prize packs.

Follower

1. None
2. Zelda
3. Garbage
4. Trash
5. Old man
6. Zelda Text
7. Blind
8. Frog
9. Dwarf
10. Sign man
11. Kiki
12. ??????
13. Purple chest
14. Super bomb
15. Sasha text

World

Switch between Light World and Dark World. Does not change screen ID.

Progress

Game mode selector:

Started

No progress. Game will not save.

Uncle

Sword and shield obtained from uncle.

Zelda

Zelda has been rescued.

Agahnim

Agahnim has been defeated.

Map indicator

World map marker:

Castle

Zelda rescue mission

Kakariko

Go speak to villagers to learn about the Elders

Sahasrahla

Go speak to Sahasrahla to learn about the Master Sword

Pendants

Light World dungeons

MS

Go collect the master sword

ATower

Go fight Agahnim

Darkness

First Dark World dungeon

Crystals

Remaining Dark World dungeons

GTower

Go fight Ganon

Link state

Waterwalk

Control the falling-in-pit address

Unarmed

0; Link's default state

Armed

1; armed as if waterwalk were set up by dashing from a pit

Armed (2)

2; difficult (if not impossible) to obtain intermediate state

Deathholed

3; falling state obtained after a death hole in the underworld

Statue drag

Toggles the fake statue address.

Anc Index

Set ancilla search index ($03C4); $00–$7F

Armed EG

Yes/No.

EG strength

• EG 0
• Strong
• Weak

Activate superbunny

Sets Link's general state handler to default ($00). For safety, this will only run when Link's handler is currently set to bunny ($17). If successful, you should hear a poof; otherwise, you will hear a beep.

Activate Lonk

Sets Link's general state handler to bunny ($17). For safety, this will only run when Link's handler is at its default value ($00). If successful, you should hear OOF; otherwise, you will hear a beep.

Despite the labels, the Superbunny and Lonk menu options can be used to return to normal Link and normal bunny, respectively.

Finish mirrordoor

Sets the mirror door wait timer to finish after 11 frames. For safety reasons, this will only run when the Triforce door submodule is in effect. If successful, you should hear a VOOMP; otherwise, you will hear a beep.

Gameplay

Skip Triforce

Transitioning north from Ganon's Room will behave like a normal screen transition, allowing consistent and reliable room times for the fight.

Disable beams

The Master Sword and its upgrades will no longer fire sword beams at full health.

Lit rooms

Dark rooms will be at full brightness and visibility. Retains a faded lamp cone for cues.

Fast walls

Speeds up the moving wall cutscenes.

Visible probes^LAG

Search probes used by guards, beamos, etc. will display a graphic.

Show STC pits

Automatically mark all pits after performing somaria door corruptions.

Disable BG1

Disables SNES background 1 via PPU registers. Has no effect on lag.

Disable BG2

Disables SNES background 2 via PPU registers. Has no effect on lag.

OoB Mode

Turns on the debug OoB mode, which has the following features:

• Link ignores all collision, and can walk everywhere.
• The mirror works to go from Light World to Dark World.

RNG Control

Prize packs

Modifies drop percentages. This option only affects prize packs, not other guaranteed drops such as the stun drop or keys. It will, however, affect the 100% prize packs.

Vanilla

Drops behave normally. 50% for most prize packs; fairy luck works.

Always

All enemies drop their prize packs when possible.

Never

No enemy drops prize packs, ever.

NOTE: toggling this option will reset existing fairy luck.

Frame rule

Forces the frame counter to a specific value on preset or savestate load.

Pokeys

Random, fixed RNG for every combination of UD/LR for each pokey

Agahnim

1. Random
2. Yellow
3. Blue

Helmasaur

1. Random
2. No fireball
3. Fireball

Ganon warps

1. Random
2. No warp
3. Warp

Ganon warp to

1. Random
2. Far left
3. Bottom left
4. Bottom right
5. Far right

Eyegore walk

1. Random
2. Short
3. Medium
4. Long

Arrghus walk

1. Random
2. Shortest
3. Short
4. Medium
5. Long
6. Longest

Turtle walk

Random, 32 fixed RNGs

Lanmola exit

Random, fixed {X,Y} for 0≤X≤7; 0≤Y≤7

Moth conveyor

1. Random
2. Right
3. Left
4. Up
5. Down

First Vitty

1. Random
2. Slot 5
3. Slot 6
4. Slot 7
5. Slot 8
6. Slot 9
7. Slot A
8. Slot B
9. Slot C
10. Slot D

HUD extras

Health display^SA1

How to show Link's current and max health:

Numerical

Classic practice hack display under rupee count

Vanilla

Vanilla graphical display NOTICE: vanilla hearts will be drawn to the HUD first, and additional HUD features may be drawn over them.

Input display^SA1

Visual indication of every button registered each frame.

Off

Disabled.

Graphical

Rectangle buttons arranged like a controller.

Classic

Original character display.

Classic Gray

Classic with unpressed buttons in gray.

Sentry [1–5]^SA1

5 sentry slots displayed on the HUD.

Room time

Time spent on the current screen, starting from the beginning of the last transition.

Lag

Count of lag frames on the current screen, starting from the beginning of the last transition.

Idle frames

Count of menu and text frames with no relevant input, starting from the beginning of the last transition.

Segment time

Time spent since the beginning of the last segment timer reset.

Coordinates

Absolute position of Link (X,Y)

Subpixels

Current subpixel (Hexadecimal); address: $7E002A

Room ID

Current room ID, corrected room ID (based on coordinates), and sync. Sync not displayed on overworld; address: $7E00A0

Quadrant

Current quadrant, corrected quadrant (based on coordinates), and sync. Not displayed on overworld; address: $7E00A9

Screen ID

Current overworld screen ID, corrected screen ID (based on coordinates), and sync. Not displayed in underworld; address: $7E008A

Tile (UW)

Tile type Link is standing on (bottom right; only works in underworld); address: $7E0114

Tile index

WRAM address in bank 7F of the tile Link is standing on.

Spooky

Ancilla height for slot 4; address: $7E02A2

Arc variable

Overlord value used by Armos Knights and Ganon for circles; address: $7E0B08

WEST SOMARIA

West somaria door timer; address: $7E0690

Ancilla index

Ancilla search index; address: $7E03C4

Pits

Current pit destination/damage flag. Not displayed on overworld; address: $7EC000

Hookslot

Hookshot slot index; address: $7E039D

Boss HP

Health of enemy in slot 0; address: $7E0E50

Hovering

Number of frames A has been held, up to 29; address: $7E0374

Line [1–4]^EX

4 larger sentry lines of info displayed on the HUD.

Room flags

Boss heart, key, chest, and door flags for current room.

UW Camera X

Camera scroll and boundaries for X-axis.

UW Camera Y

Camera scroll and boundaries for Y-axis.

OW Trans X

Transition triggers and target screen IDs for horizontal overworld transitions.

OW Trans Y

Transition triggers and target screen IDs for vertical overworld transitions.

Ancilla 0-4

Custom ancilla property for slots 0–4 (property # corresponds to sentry #). This set of slots is indicated by a yellow triangle pointing down.

Ancilla 5-9

Custom ancilla property for slots 5–9. This set of slots is indicated by a green triangle pointing up.

Ancilla MSX

Custom ancilla property for the 5 slots preceding the current search index ($03C4). This set of slots is indicated by a blue magnifying glass.

Ancilla prop [1–4]

Custom property 1–4 for ancilla sets corresponding to line sentries 1–4

ID

Ancilla ID from $03C4,X (includes coloring for 00 and replacable particles).

X coord

Ancilla X-Coordinate; address: $7E0C04,X

Y coord

Ancilla Y-Coordinate; address: $7E0BFA,X

Altitude

Ancilla Z-Coordinate; address: $7E029E,X

Layer

Ancilla layer; address: $7E0C7C,X

Extension

Used both for hookshot length and item receipt ID, among other less interesting properties; address: $7E0C5E,X

Tile prop

Tile interaction; address: $7E03E4,X

EG check

Something; address: $7E03A4,X

Direction

Generally used for direction of ancilla; address: $7E0C72,X

Decay

Timer for wall arrows before disappearing; address: $7E03B1,X

Hide lines^SA1

Removes the line sentries from the HUD without the need to disable them.

HUD lag^SA1

Animated spinning icon that indicates there is potential for HUD-related lag present.

State icons^SA1

Displays icons along the left side of the HUD for the following properties (top to bottom): superspeed, waterwalk, door state, stair drag.

Quick warp^SA1

Displays an icon on the HUD when the current camera will effect a quickwarp.

Boss cycles^SA1

Displays the cycle count of bosses.

Lite states

16 custom presets that can be saved, loaded, and erased.

• To load a lite state, press A.
• To write a lite state, hold Y for 60 frames. This will create a preset at your current location with your current equipment.
• To delete a lite state, hold X for 60 frames.

Room master

Set room

Change the current room loaded and viewed.

Load selected room

Loads the currently selected room based on the configurable settings. Tries to be systematic and intelligent about positioning, camera, etc.

Configure loading

Configure settings that control what state rooms are loaded in.

Equipment

Select between current equipment, the custom preset loadout, or full equipment.

Open shutters

Opens all shutter doors in the loaded room.

Kill sprites

Kills all sprites in the loaded room.

Peg state

Choose the peg state when loading rooms, or leave them in their current state.

World state

Choose the world ID, let it take on the expected value of the room, or leave it as is.

Dungeon ID

Choose the dungeon ID, let it take on the expected value of the room, or leave it as is.

Door 0, …

View and change the various flags saved per room.

Shortcuts

LTTPHack menu

R+Start - Opens the practice hack menu. NOTE: this shortcut cannot be changed.

Load last preset

Reloads the most recent preset or litestate used from the menu.

Save state

Saves current state of the game, similar to emulator savestates.

Load state

Loads saved savestates, similar to emulator savestates.

Reset seg timer

Resets the segment timer, which is not automatically reset like room timer.

Toggle OoB

Turns on out-of-bounds mode.

Skip text

Skips the current text box.

Remove sprites

Removes all sprites, overlords, and ancillae from the screen.

Toggle switch

Flips the crystal switch color in underworld.

Fill everything

Maxes out equipment, rupees, items, and health.

VRAM repair

Fixes important registers and VRAM data that have been corrupted by door glitches.WARNING: If this shortcut is triggered during a text box, the text box will disappear, but the game will remain in text mode.NOTE: this feature only repairs registers and VRAM; other areas of RAM may result in game crashes unrelated to this feature, but which are never normally encountered in vanilla runs.

Mark all pits

Modifies the upper layer tilemap to mark pits.NOTE: this feature is intended for finding pits created by overlay corruption, but it will mark all standard pit tiles the same way.

Preset config

Preset category

Changes the run category listed in the presets submenu.

Safeties

Opens a new submenu with safety options for the currently selected category.

Death reload

Reloads the last preset upon death.

Random bats

Randomize the variable that Ganon uses to spawn bats after loading a preset.

Use preset load

When enabled, the current saved loadout will overwrite items and equipment when presets are loaded.

Save loadout

Saves your current equipment to a custom loadout for use with presets.

Configuration

Rerandomize

When using built-in savestates and presets, this will run the RNG function to create a new value on each load. It will also randomize the frame counter.

Music

Sets the ADSR envelope of every instrument used by music to 0 (except the saw used by mirror warps). Nothing else changes, so this feature does not affect lag.

Menu open

Select whether the practice menu opens up to where you left off or resets to the top.

HUD font

Change the font used by HUD extras. This will not change the font for the vanilla HUD or for the HP display. Hover over options for larger preview.

• LTTP
• Klonoa
• TI-83
• Shin-chan
• SMT (Shin Megami Tensei)
• Mario World
• DKC (Donkey Kong Country)
• ZAMN (Zombies Ate My Neighbors)
• Emerald (Pokémon Emerald)
• Earthbound
• FF6 (Final Fantasy VI)
• Lufia 2
• Goonies 2
• Pac-Man (Pac-Man Arrangement)
• DOOM (GBA version)
• Undertale
• Pocky (and Rocky 2)
• Skyroads
• Yoshi's (Island)
• S. Metroid (Super Metroid)
• Tazmania
• Black Bass (Super Black Bass 3)
• Loopz

Color config

Personalization of the practice menu colors. The following preset colors are available:

• 000000
  Black
• F8F8F8
  White
• C06000
  Brown
• A8A8A8
  Gray
• C00000
  Red
• E0A800
  Yellow
• 20C028
  Green
• 4870D0
  Blue
• C8C8F8
  Periwinkle
• 000090
  Dark Blue
• 06A969
  Lui green
• 20A8F8
  Glan blue fantasy
• F8B000
  Orange
• 782878
  Purple
• 605800
  Garbage
• 8090A0
  Blilver
• F858A8
  Pink
• F76D61
  Peach42
• 2AA8D9
  Siriusly?
• BADA55
  Almost BADA55
• FFBFFF
  Blunt pink
• 78886A
  Igarashi Futaba