FRS enhancement patch: Vampire Killer

Brazilian MSX fan sd_snatcher is on a roll recently, releasing more enhancement patches than we can keep up with. His latest enhancement patch is for a classic Konami franchise: Vampire Killer (Akumajo Dracula), known on other systems as Castlevania. Modifications for this platform game are:

DynamicVsync (it also fixed the infamous 50Hz speed bug, as the Z80A/3.57MHz was also too fast to run the game at 50Hz)
Enhanced sprite cycling: sprites will be cycled as fast as your CPU is able to do it, up to 60Hz. This results in smoother flickering.
Page flipping for the sprites: fixes the sprite flickering that happened on the top the of the screen and eliminates tearing completely.
Enables the turbo via CHGCPU on boot
Hold the TAB key to throttle the game speed
Automatically sets the VDP to 60Hz on boot, to play the game at the correct speed even on European machines. If you have an old European TV that doesn't support this, keep SELECT pressed on boot to disable it.
Correct handling of non-VDP interrupts, which are now passed along to the interrupt chain.
Removed the internal pseudo GameMaster-1 to release space for the enhancements. You can use GameMaster-2 with this game instead.
Fixed inconsistent keyboard vs joystick interface: now when playing on the keyboard the player also jumps by pressing the secondary trigger (M or N key). The UP key is now only used to climb stairs. This solves the frustrating jumping-instead-of-climbing situations that happened before.
Added support for the Megadrive 3-button joypad connected though a joymega adapter. (START button = pause, A-button = MAP).

Relevant link: FRS

Comments (19)

By Huey

Prophet (2676)

26-07-2011, 09:58

Can't wait to try this one!

Nice work!

26-07-2011, 10:40

Just tested the patch and the separate buttons for jumping and climbing the stairs are very very nice.

I did notice a little bug. But I am not sure if it is also present in the original:

I was at level 2 and just bought a shield. I got hit by a bat while I was kneeling down facing the bat. The game over/death sprite was stacked instead of horizontal next to each other.

26-07-2011, 12:49

never mind. There is no game over sprite pattern

It's just a feature of the original

By Manuel

Ascended (18246)

26-07-2011, 22:10

Nice, the weird slowdown from the first part outside the castle is also fixed

By KdL

Paragon (1413)

26-07-2011, 22:58

hi! this is great job!!! can you fix this frustrating defect of main sprite????

www.webalice.it/gnogni/bug/vkiller-spritebug.png

By sd_snatcher

Prophet (3486)

27-07-2011, 03:42

@KdL

Oh, my!!! That never happened on my tests!

What's the checksum of the ROM you're using to patch? Could you please detail the steps so I can reproduce it here? What patcher tool have you used?

By muffie

Paladin (933)

27-07-2011, 15:31

Next patch will be...

...for Marial Attack.

27-07-2011, 18:38

The patch used is IPS (with LUNAR). The SHA1 is correct.
With main sprite on the top of the screen you press space simply.
The whip is corrupted on right and left direction... but on the top screen only!!

The test of blueMSX is for TurboR machine in R800 mode.

27-07-2011, 19:13

Could you please test it on a real machine? It could some emulation issue again.

By Rataplan

Master (250)

28-07-2011, 08:36

Unbelievably sweet! Thanks for another great patch. I'll try it this weekend. Next step is to have scrolling levels

28-07-2011, 22:35

Yeah, a real hero will be the one who implements scrolling in this game, it has been suggested before! But it's LOADS of work, I guess and may need half of a game engine rewrite. And it may kill the fluent game speed...

By Meits

Scribe (6458)

28-07-2011, 23:37

I guess leaving MSX2 behind would be an option then? There's videochips with horizontal hardwarescrolling...

Though, I don't care whether Vampire Killer scrolls or not...

By ro

Scribe (4540)

29-07-2011, 08:35

Technically it would be a huge code job to get scrolling done, it's not just the screen build up... if you don't get it, you're not supposed to get it.
stop screaming for scrolling peeps.

nice patch!

30-07-2011, 01:01

No scrolling?
jelle77.home.xs4all.nl/msx/Hyperlost.gif

By iamweasel2

Paladin (685)

31-07-2011, 03:48

Come on, instead of complaining for things that aren't there, let's be grateful for another patch that brings cool improvements to the game.

Thanks FRS for another great patch.

By J-War

Champion (413)

07-08-2011, 21:42

sd_snatcher : YOU ROX !!

Thanks for the awesome work and... More please !!

By JohnHassink

Ambassador (5591)

08-08-2011, 03:25

As this work is amazing in entirety, this
The UP key is now only used to climb stairs. This solves the frustrating jumping-instead-of-climbing situations that happened before.
is a bigger improvement to the gameplay than scrolling could ever be, IMHO.

12-08-2011, 09:20

hehe I was asking for scrolling just for fun. Personally I think it would 'kill' some of the charmes of Vampire Killer opposed to for example NES or even x68000. It makes for some 'surprise'factor when walking to the next screen. It might spoil some of the fun if you can 'look ahead'. No scrolling for me. Although maybe we can have a version with a scrolling on/off option...

The new controls of this patch are truly awesome by the way, why didn't Konami implement this in their original...

By Chaosmountain

Supporter (1)

17-06-2013, 23:35

Thanks & I know this is an old tread, but where the heck do I find this patch ?!?!

FRS enhancement patch: Vampire Killer

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