Increase the cheat code limit

[Former user]

Original [issue 133](https://code.google.com/p/genplus-gx/issues/detail?id=133) created by [e-mail] on 2010-11-05T10:11:15.000Z:

What steps will reproduce the problem? 1.go cheats menu 2.choose cheat window 3.

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?

Be able to load all codes or be able to choose from all list not the first 10,only. The pat files usually have more than 10 codes and sometimes to get infinite lives, for example you need to select 2 or 3 codes. It’s a nonsense for me, the emulator goes beyond the perfection and cheats works perfectly but the ones that you can choose, only. Your GUI is magnificent, I like a lot it, thank you.

What version of the emulator are you using (official, SVN revision,...)? WII 3.2E

Please provide any additional information below (Video settings, Console region,...)

[Former user]

Comment # 2 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2010-11-05T10:42:35.000Z:

I agree.

The limitation is there because I didn't really took the time to allow more and this is easier to have it designed like this (rather than having a scrolling list).

What limits should it have in your opinion ? Keep in mind it can NOT be unlimited because of memory limitations on the Wii (even more on the Game Cube)

[Former user]

Comment # 4 originally posted by [e-mail] on 2010-11-06T16:11:00.000Z:

Thank you for answering :) I’ve looked at pat files that I have about 256 and the biggest one is 13 Kb and it has 319 codes, I know that memory size depends on fields and registers. A structure for pat file if you decide to make your own format can be for example : 1st field TEXT 11 characters for the code (I’ve seen 2 types of code with 9 characters pe BLAT-AA3R or 11 characters 011598:0600) I don’t know if there are more types 2nd field TEXT 250 characters or more for description 3rd field TEXT OR NUMERIC for state on (1)/off(0) About registers 1000 per file can be enough I don’t know how much WII memory can take it maybe 100 kb can be enough. About standards of pat files I don’t know if there is one. The files that I have can be loaded by most know emulators Kega, Gens. The files are loaded but not modified. I remember that an emulator author develop a system that when you need 3 or more codes for a cheat enabling one automatically enables the others, if my memory not fail the developer was Sardu because the emulator works with DOS but I am not 100% sure. I attach you a file patch.rar with all pat files that I have and a program called codebook.exe (The big book of Game Genie codes) where you can get more pat files.

[Former user]

Comment # 5 originally posted by [e-mail] on 2010-11-06T16:16:39.000Z:

If forgot to tell the biggest file is STFI2TU.PAT

[Former user]

Comment # 6 originally posted by [e-mail] on 2010-11-06T16:22:22.000Z:

If anybody who read this topic are interested on cheat a present an other way of cheating ;)

[Former user]

Comment # 7 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2010-11-06T17:57:27.000Z:

250 is a good limit in my opinion (if you look at your bigger one, a lot are duplicated, who use all those cheats anyway ?) 256 characters for cheat description is overkilling, 64 is enough imo. Sacrificing 100 Kb just for a cheat list also seems unreasonable, this is not gonna be like your emulators on PC sorry, the Game Cube only has 24 MB and if we want additional emulation features (SMS integration, Sega CD, etc), we need to spare memory space, this is already pretty much filled because of the GUI.

I have no idea how you could enable codes automatically when more than one are required for a cheat, I can't magically guess what codes are bound together since they all look the same. Maybe by using the same description field or a specific description field character. This is definitively not a priority right now, I'm sure you can enjoy your cheating the way it is.

[Former user]

Comment # 8 originally posted by [e-mail] on 2010-11-07T14:22:14.000Z:

Yes you are right 250 is good for me too, I said 1000 because I’ve looked at street fighter file (I never played this game), for my experience with PC emulators if you enable all cheats you can hang the emulation, sometimes enabling one cheat can hang it too. You should put on FAQ that cheats can hang emulation to aboit people’s issue reports, because I think that is not an emulator’s fault.

For me 64 kb is good too, I said 100 kb for the worst worst case ;) but never I used larger files. And always you can split the file selecting the cheats that you need. For example on Starflight (UE) (REV01) [!].pat with this 3 codes you have all ATBT-AA2A [ 1] MASTER CODE--MUST BE ENTERED ACGA-CACW
\_ ACGA-CACY / [20] Phaser costs 0 instead of 450,000 buy/sell the phaser and you have infinite money ;) I know that game cube has little memory (I have a blue one, for collection), I thought that it has 40 Mb RAM and 2 Mb of video RAM, now I must change the description to 24 Mb :\_( You are right cheat it’s a secondary feature. And always on cheating if you want to go "far beyond", you can do it using a PC emulator an export a state or smr to genplus-gx . About bonded codes I’ll try to find the emulator that do this I think that emulator was Genecyst but this is an unneeded feature, too. I remember that it has his own pat file format and I remember that bond the codes like this ACGA-CACW+ACGA-CACY Phaser costs 0 instead of 450,000 For me your cheat system is perfect now :)

[Former user]

Comment # 9 originally posted by kingofchaos6669 on 2010-11-08T17:10:41.000Z:

I had the opportunity to test the new cheat system out last night (been busy as of late) and I am impressed with it! However I did notice at random that during adding cheats/descriptions that the Wii suddenly rebooted so I don't know what happened there. :P But otherwise it works great! :)

I agree with the limitations, but instead of 250 wouldn't 255 make more sense? For the description it should be around 100 to be safe (I'm sure 64 would be enough but wanna be safe there).

Also, is it possible to have a tool or something that can convert Kega .pat files to be used with Genesis Plus GX (by changing the descriptions to uppercase and adding a 'status' with it being OFF by default)? If so, I'd be happy to convert a good amount of cheats and share them to anyone who wants them. :)

[Former user]

Comment # 10 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2010-11-08T23:00:25.000Z:

There is currently a memory leak in the cheat menu that will make your Wii crash if you stay too long or go too often into the cheat menu. It is fixed for the next release.

As for limitations, no value really makes more sense than others (and off course bigger is safer), it's just that I must set a good compromise between usability and memory occupation ;-)

Kega .pat files should already be compatible (at least, the ones I made myself were), cheats are OFF by default since no OFF/ON string is found and the description remains the same (it's just the description editor that currently only outputs upper case, this was done mainly for simplicity). I also verified that updated .pat files kept compatible with Kega.

[Former user]

Comment # 11 originally posted by kingofchaos6669 on 2010-11-09T15:32:32.000Z:

Excellent! :D

I'll load up all my Kega PAT files and start playing games.

P.S. You really don't wanna see my Sonic 3 code that consists of 25 codes for a single effect. ;)

[Former user]

Comment # 12 originally posted by [e-mail] on 2010-11-13T12:20:13.000Z:

There is currently a memory leak in the cheat menu that will make your Wii crash if >you stay too long or go too often into the cheat menu. It is fixed for the next >release.

A part of this memory leak, some cheat codes or special combinations of them can crash Wii/PC too. Tested with varius genesis emulators PC/WII. About enable codes is there any known limit?

[Former user]

Comment # 13 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2010-11-13T16:35:37.000Z:

Sorry, I don't understand what you are trying to say.

The memory leak/crash is a bug specific to the GC/Wii version and has nothing to do with special codes combinations. Some bad codes can prevent games from working but that's a different issue here and would do the same on real hardware.

The limit is what you see in the emulator menu, 10 cheats per games, enabled or disabled does not matter.

[Former user]

Comment # 14 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2010-12-04T17:24:38.000Z: