randomprime

This repository implements a "patcher" for the subset of Metroid Prime versions released for the Nintendo Gamecube. In the simplest sense, it takes a game ISO as input, makes modifications defined by a JSON layout description, and then outputs a new ISO. The output ISO is officially compatible with Dolphin, Nintendont and GC Loader.

This repository contains no intellectual property for Metroid Prime. The only game-specific data present is information regarding the offsets/names of data known to exist on an unmodified copy of the game and custom-made assets. As such, users are required to provide their own legally obtained copy of Metroid Prime to use this patcher.

Features

To give you a taste of what's implemented, here are some highlighted features which are available via this program:

• Relocate upgrades (a.k.a randomizer, the namesake of this repository)
• Quality of life changes such as softlock fixes, crash fixes, hud changes, etc...
• Modify scripting objects and scripting connections
• Modify door colors, blast shields, room connections etc...
• Place simple objects such as blocks, platforms, triggers, timers etc...

Usage

• The application which best makes use of this program is randovania. It's a full-GUI application centered around randomizing the game with various settings, even supporting co-operative multiworld. It's implemented via the py-randomprime wrapper (described below)
• Some "fanhacks" have been made utilizing the features exposed by this program more directly. They can be found in the metroid-prime-fanhacks repository. Be sure to check out the Creator's Guide for an in-depth dive into the patcher API and how to use it.
• py-randomprime implements Python bindings for this project's feature set making it much more portable. The py-randomprime repository also builds standalone windows executable files (.exe) and attaches them to each release.

Documentation

The API is documented thoroughly at randovania.org/randomprime. Though a bit dated, some auxillary documents which may be useful can be found in the /doc/ folder.

Changelog

Updates to this program are documented as part of the py-randomprime Release Process. The versioning for py-randomprime follows Semantic Versioning. The version number exposed in the standalone application can be ignored.

Compiling

1. Install a Rust compiler. It is recommended to use rustup.
2. Add powerpc-unknown-linux-gnu as a target, like so: rustup target add --toolchain stable powerpc-unknown-linux-gnu
3. Clone the repo and all its submodules: git clone https://github.com/randovania/randomprime --recursive
4. Run cargo build

That should create a standalone executable in ./randomprime/target/debug/randomprime_patcher.exe.

Resources

Some helpful resources for those starting out with modding Metroid Prime can be found in the Metroid Prime Fanhacks repository. Furthermore there's:

• PowerPC 750cl ISA and Appendix F
• Godbolt
• Metroid Prime Crash Parser
• Last Metaforce Commit with DATASPEC
• Unused Memory Locations