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paper_mario:dialog_system
Table of Contents
Paper Mario Dialog System
Paper Mario uses a mix of bytecode and encoded text for its written dialog.
Dialog Banks
The US and Japanese NTSC ROMs each use a single dialog bank while the PAL ROM uses four banks for English, German, French, and Spanish. Each bank is roughly 1MB in size.
Bank Locations
NTSC US
| Address | Size | Language |
|---|---|---|
| 01B83000 | 00101D30 | English |
NTSC J
| Address | Size | Language |
|---|---|---|
| 01D40000 | (TODO) | Japanese |
PAL
| Address | Size | Language |
|---|---|---|
| 02030000 | (TODO) | English |
| 021B0000 | (TODO) | German |
| 02330000 | (TODO) | French |
| 024B0000 | (TODO) | Spanish |
Bank Structure
1. Header 2. Sections 2a. Sequences 2b. Sequence Offsets
1. Header
The header is a zero-terminated list of 32-bit offsets pointing to each section's Sequence Offsets (2b). All offsets are relative to the start of the dialog bank.
2. Sections
Each section contains dialog data for a given area of the game. They are aligned to 16-byte boundaries in the original ROMs.
2a. Sequences
Sequences consist of text with a custom encoding mixed in with some basic bytecode that controls attributes such as style, color, and timing. In the original ROMs, each sequence is aligned to a 4 byte boundary.
2b. Sequence Offsets
This is a list of start and end offset pairs that reference each sequence within the section. Start and end offsets are overlapped. The list is terminated when an end offset points to the beginning of the list.
US & PAL Sequence Encoding
The NTSC-US and PAL ROMs share the same encoding for their dialog sequences. (Note: Names like “CHR_MUSIC_NOTE” are derived from this document or made up for documentation purposes).
| Character(s) | Value | Params | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHR_MUSIC_NOTE | 0x00 | - | |
| (! to /) | 0x01 to 0x0F | - | |
| (0 to 9) | 0x10 to 0x19 | - | |
| : | 0x1A | - | |
| ; | 0x1B | - | |
| < | 0x1C | - | |
| = | 0x1D | - | |
| > | 0x1E | - | |
| ? | 0x1F | - | |
| @ | 0x20 | - | |
| (A to Z) | 0x21 to 0x3A | - | |
| ( | 0x3B | - | |
| ¥ | 0x3C | - | |
| ) | 0x3D | - | |
| ^ | 0x3E | - | |
| _ | 0x3F | - | |
| ` | 0x40 | - | |
| (a to z) | 0x41 to 0x5A | - | |
| { | 0x5B | - | |
| | | 0x5C | - | |
| } | 0x5D | - | |
| ~ | 0x5E | - | |
| ° | 0x5F | - | |
| À | 0x60 | - | |
| Á | 0x61 | - | |
| Â | 0x62 | - | |
| Ä | 0x63 | - | |
| Ç | 0x64 | - | |
| È | 0x65 | - | |
| É | 0x66 | - | |
| Ê | 0x67 | - | |
| Ë | 0x68 | - | |
| Ì | 0x69 | - | |
| Í | 0x6A | - | |
| Î | 0x6B | - | |
| Ï | 0x6C | - | |
| Ñ | 0x6D | - | |
| Ò | 0x6E | - | |
| Ó | 0x6F | - | |
| Ô | 0x70 | - | |
| Ö | 0x71 | - | |
| Ù | 0x72 | - | |
| Ú | 0x73 | - | |
| Û | 0x74 | - | |
| Ü | 0x75 | - | |
| ß | 0x76 | - | |
| à | 0x77 | - | |
| á | 0x78 | - | |
| â | 0x79 | - | |
| ä | 0x7A | - | |
| ç | 0x7B | - | |
| è | 0x7C | - | |
| é | 0x7D | - | |
| ê | 0x7E | - | |
| ë | 0x7F | - | |
| ì | 0x80 | - | |
| í | 0x81 | - | |
| î | 0x82 | - | |
| ï | 0x83 | - | |
| ñ | 0x84 | - | |
| ò | 0x85 | - | |
| ó | 0x86 | - | |
| ô | 0x87 | - | |
| ö | 0x88 | - | |
| ù | 0x89 | - | |
| ú | 0x8A | - | |
| û | 0x8B | - | |
| ü | 0x8C | - | |
| ¡ | 0x8D | - | |
| ¿ | 0x8E | - | |
| ª | 0x8F | - | |
| CHR_HEART | 0x90 | - | |
| CHR_STAR | 0x91 | - | |
| CHR_UP_ARROW | 0x92 | - | |
| CHR_DN_ARROW | 0x93 | - | |
| CHR_LT_ARROW | 0x94 | - | |
| CHR_RT_ARROW | 0x95 | - | |
| CHR_O_NOUGHT | 0x96 | - | |
| CHR_X_CROSS | 0x97 | - | |
| CHR_A_BUTTON | 0x98 | - | |
| CHR_B_BUTTON | 0x99 | - | |
| CHR_L_BUTTON | 0x9A | - | |
| CHR_R_BUTTON | 0x9B | - | |
| CHR_Z_BUTTON | 0x9C | - | |
| CHR_C_UP_BUTTON | 0x9D | - | |
| CHR_C_DN_BUTTON | 0x9E | - | |
| CHR_C_LT_BUTTON | 0x9F | - | |
| CHR_C_RT_BUTTON | 0xA0 | - | |
| CHR_START_BUTTON | 0xA1 | - | |
| CHR_NULL_0 | 0xA2 | - | |
| CHR_NULL_1 | 0xA3 | - | |
| CHR_NULL_2 | 0xA4 | - | |
| CHR_NULL_3 | 0xA5 | - | |
| CHR_NULL_4 | 0xA6 | - | |
| CHR_TAB_16 | 0xA8 | - | |
| CHR_TAB_6 | 0xA9 | - | |
| CHR_LINE_BREAK | 0xF0 | - | |
| CHR_BELL | 0xF1 | - | Makes a bell sound and waits for player input |
| CHR_DELAY | 0xF2 | yes | Pauses the dialog sequence for specified number of frames |
| (Space) | 0xF7 | - | |
| CHR_NEXT_BUBBLE | 0xFB | - | Advances to the next bubble in the dialog sequence |
| CHR_STYLE | 0xFC | yes | Sets the style of the dialog box |
| CHR_END | 0xFD | - | Ends the dialog sequence |
| CHR_CMD | 0xFF | yes | Executes an advanced command |
Japanese Sequence Encoding
TODO: desu desu
CHR_DELAY (F2)
Pauses the dialog sequence for a specified number of frames.
F1 [NN] NN = Number of frames
CHR_STYLE (FC)
Sets the visual style of the dialog specified by a Style ID. Additional arguments may be required depending the style.
FC [SS] SS = Style ID
CHR_CMD (FF)
Runs an advanced command specified by a Command ID. Additional arguments may be required depending on the command.
FF [CC] CC = Command ID
Styles
The following IDs are used with the CHR_STYLE special character.
| Style | Value | Params |
|---|---|---|
| STYLE_INVALID | 0x00 | - |
| STYLE_BUBBLE_RIGHT | 0x01 | - |
| STYLE_BUBBLE_LEFT | 0x02 | - |
| STYLE_BUBBLE_A | 0x03 | - |
| STYLE_BUBBLE_B | 0x04 | - |
| STYLE_WHITE_BORDER | 0x05 | 4 |
| STYLE_NARRATION_A | 0x06 | - |
| STYLE_SIGN_POST | 0x07 | - |
| STYLE_BLUE_MESSAGE | 0x08 | 1 |
| STYLE_INVALID_2 | 0x09 | - |
| STYLE_WHITE_BUBBLE_A | 0x0A | - |
| STYLE_WHITE_BUBBLE_B | 0x0B | - |
| STYLE_NO_DISPLAY | 0x0C | - |
| STYLE_NARRATION_SILENT | 0x0D | - |
| STYLE_NO_DISPLAY_V_CENTER | 0x0E | - |
| STYLE_NARRATION_B | 0x0F | - |
STYLE_WHITE_BORDER (05)
FC 05 [XX] [YY] [WW] [HH] XX = X position from left YY = Y position from top WW = Width HH = Height
STYLE_BLUE_MESSAGE (08)
FC 08 [HH] HH = Height (0x40 = Normal height)
Commands
The following IDs are used with the CHR_CMD special character.
| Command | Value | Params |
|---|---|---|
| CMD_UNK_00 | 0x00 | ? |
| CMD_UNK_04 | 0x04 | - |
| CMD_TEXT_COLOR | 0x05 | 1 |
| CMD_UNK_07 | 0x07 | - |
| CMD_UNK_08 | 0x08 | - |
| CMD_PRINT_INSTANT | 0x09 | - |
| CMD_CANCEL_WRITING | 0x0A | - |
| CMD_FONT_KERNING | 0x0B | 1 |
| CMD_AUTO_SCROLL | 0x0C | 1 |
| CMD_FONT_SIZE | 0x0D | 2 |
| CMD_FONT_SIZE_RESET | 0x0E | - |
| CMD_PRINT_SPEED | 0x0F | 2 |
| CMD_MARGIN | 0x10 | 2 |
| CMD_UNK_11 | 0x11 | 1 |
| CMD_UNK_12 | 0x12 | 1 |
| CMD_UNK_13 | 0x13 | 1 |
| CMD_UNK_14 | 0x14 | 1 |
| CMD_GRAPHIC_A | 0x15 | 1 |
| CMD_ICON | 0x17 | 2 |
| CMD_GRAPHIC_B | 0x18 | 7 |
| CMD_UNK_1A | 0x1A | 8 |
| CMD_UNK_1B | 0x1B | 7 |
| CMD_UNK_1E | 0x1E | 1 |
| CMD_UNK_1F | 0x1F | 1 |
| CMD_UNK_20 | 0x20 | 1 |
| CMD_UNK_21 | 0x21 | 1 |
| CMD_UNK_22 | 0x21 | - |
| CMD_UNK_23 | 0x23 | - |
| CMD_SAVE_TEXT_COLOR | 0x24 | - |
| CMD_LOAD_TEXT_COLOR | 0x25 | - |
| CMD_START_EFFECT | 0x26 | 1 |
| CMD_CANCEL_EFFECT | 0x27 | 1 |
| CMD_UNK_28 | 0x28 | 1 |
| CMD_UNK_29 | 0x29 | 1 |
| CMD_UNK_2B | 0x2B | - |
| CMD_VOLUME | 0x2E | 1 |
| CMD_VOICE | 0x2F | 1 |
TODO params
TODO asm checks needed:
- 1e through 21 selection related
- 01, 02, 03 unused ?
- 06 unused ?
- 16 possibly unused
- 19 unused?
- 1c possibly unused
- 2a unused?
- 2C, 2d unused ?
Effects
The following IDs are used with the CMD_START_EFFECT and CMD_CANCEL_EFFECT commands.
| Effect | Value | Params |
|---|---|---|
| EFFECT_JITTER | 0x00 | - |
| EFFECT_WAVE | 0x01 | - |
| EFFECT_DARK_STATIC | 0x02 | - |
| EFFECT_LIGHT_STATIC | 0x03 | 1 |
| EFFECT_UNKNOWN | 0x04 | - |
| EFFECT_GHOST_JITTER | 0x05 | 1 |
| EFFECT_CHASING_RAINBOW_A | 0x06 | - |
| EFFECT_GRAYED_OUT | 0x07 | 1 |
| EFFECT_WAVE_B | 0x08 | - |
| EFFECT_CHASING_RAINBOW_B | 0x09 | - |
| EFFECT_SHRINK_PLACEMENT | 0x0A | - |
| EFFECT_GROWTH_PLACEMENT | 0x0B | - |
| EFFECT_SIZE_JITTER | 0x0C | - |
| EFFECT_SIZE_WAVE | 0x0D | - |
| EFFECT_DROP_SHADOW | 0x0E | - |
Colors
TODO color IDs and an image or two
References
paper_mario/dialog_system.txt · Last modified: 2018/04/15 19:55 by trenavix