Note: This is a very unfinished section. I started it then decided to instead write a ROM editor and never came back around to documenting everything here.
If you're interested in hacking a Phantasy Star III ROM you have three options:
1) Read this guide, download a hex editor, and give yourself eye strain looking at raw game data.
2) Learn 68000 assembly and use this (quite excellent) disassembly of the ROM: https://github.com/lory90/ps3disasm - the documentation there is also better than what I have here
3) Download Aridia:
Everything documented here can be edited in Aridia.
1) Read this guide, download a hex editor, and give yourself eye strain looking at raw game data.
2) Learn 68000 assembly and use this (quite excellent) disassembly of the ROM: https://github.com/lory90/ps3disasm - the documentation there is also better than what I have here
3) Download Aridia:
Everything documented here can be edited in Aridia.
ROM Map
The table below is a map of the Phantasy Star III ROM. The goal is to identify
where everything is stored, the "?" sections are blocks of
unidentified data so there's obviously a lot to uncover yet. The "Empty space (FF)"
are just that, blocks of empty space.
| Starting Address | Ending Address | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 00000 | 000FF | ? |
| 000F0 | 001FF | ROM header - see https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Genesis_Programming#ROM_header for detailed information about Genesis ROM headers |
| 00200 | 1E033 | ? |
| 1E032 | 1E4BD | Character data |
| 1E4BE | 1E575 | ? |
| 1E575 | 1F561 | Level (XP) tables |
| 1F562 | 1F6CE | ? |
| 1F6CF | 1F9DF | Dialog text |
| 1F9E0 | 25F0D | ? |
| 25F0E | 31133 | Game script |
| 31134 | 31155 | ? |
| 31156 | 33996 | Palettes |
| 33997 | 3876F | ? |
| 38770 | 387E0 | Item data |
| 387E1 | 387EF | ? |
| 387F0 | 39186 | Weapon & armor data |
| 39187 | 39241 | ? |
| 39242 | 398AD | Item, weapon, armor names |
| 398B0 | 39A29 | Technique names & data |
| 39A30 | 3A5F0 | Palettes |
| 3A5F1 | 3BE13 | Enemy data |
| 3BE14 | 3C367 | Enemy names |
| 3C368 | 3D909 | ? |
| 3D90A | 3DACF | Battle messages |
| 3DAD0 | 3DD89 | ? |
| 3DD8A | 3E57D | Shop & save/load messages |
| 3E57E | 3EEBD | ? |
| 3EEBE | 3EF81 | Shop data |
| 3EF82 | 3FFFF | ? |
| 40000 | 401E2 | Save/load messages (from title screen) |
| 401E3 | 41BB1 | ? |
| 41BB2 | 41FFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 42000 | 49423 | ? |
| 49424 | 49FFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 4A000 | 4A5EA | ? |
| 4A5EB | 4AFFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 4B000 | 4B133 | ? |
| 4B134 | 4B3FF | Empty space (FF) |
| 4B400 | 4BFCB | ? |
| 4BFCC | 4BFFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 4C000 | 4CC6F | Landen map data |
| 4CC70 | 4DFFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 4D000 | 4D86B | Aridia map data |
| 4D86C | 4DFFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 4E000 | 4E96F | Aquatica map data |
| 4E970 | 4EFFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 4F000 | 4F99B | Draconia map data |
| 4F99C | 4FFFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 50000 | 50ADE | Terminus map data |
| 50ADF | 50FFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 51000 | 51AE6 | Frigidia map data |
| 51AE7 | 51FFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 52000 | 52BA3 | Elysium map data |
| 52BA4 | 57FFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 58000 | 5947B | ? |
| 5947C | 59FFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 5A000 | 5A677 | ? |
| 5A678 | 5AFFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 5B000 | 5B357 | ? |
| 5B358 | 5B3FF | Empty space (FF) |
| 5B400 | 5BD77 | ? |
| 5BD78 | 5BFFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 5C000 | 5C457 | ? |
| 5C458 | 5CFFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 5D000 | 5DC93 | ? |
| 5DC94 | 5DFFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 5E000 | 5E853 | ? |
| 5E854 | 5EFFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 5F000 | 5F1FF | ? |
| 5F200 | 5F7FF | Empty space (FF) |
| 5F800 | 5FC0F | ? |
| 5FC10 | 5FFFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 60000 | 62963 | ? |
| 62964 | 629FF | Empty space (FF) |
| 62A00 | 65D47 | ? |
| 65D48 | 65FFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 66000 | 66019 | ? (All zeros) |
| 66020 | 66F5F | Font tiles |
| 66F60 | 671FF | ? |
| 67200 | 672A1 | Status screen font tiles |
| 672A2 | 672BF | ? |
| 672C0 | 673FF | Border tiles |
| 67400 | 6773F | Credit font tiles |
| 67740 | 67FFF | ? |
| 68000 | 68BFF | "Generations of Doom" logo tiles |
| 68C00 | 6FFFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 70000 | 77159 | ? |
| 7715A | 77FFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 78000 | 78C0D | ? |
| 78C0E | 78FFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 79000 | 7C379 | ? |
| 7C37A | 7FFFF | Empty space (FF) |
| 80000 | 97563 | ? |
| 97564 | 9774B | Empty space (FF) |
| 9774C | A581F | ? |
| A5820 | A5B8F | Empty space (FF) |
| A5B90 | BF857 | ? |
| BF858 | BFC6F | Empty space (FF) |
| BFC70 | BFFFF | ? |
Credits
Massive thanks to mr2 and TheKomrade for their research into Phantasy Star
III ROM hacking.
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