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#1 2022-12-28 00:31:25

desbronze
Member
Registered: 2022-12-28
Posts: 2

Picross 3D puzzle generating algorithm

Picross 3D has a puzzle editor where you can create your own puzzle.
Once you have put together the object you're supposed to chip down to, the game then does some thinking to eventually spit out the puzzle you would solve to get the object you built. This thinking process can take a few seconds but I've seen it take a few minutes. I would like to know how this puzzle generating algorithm works since there seems to be some kind of optimization to get the amount of information available on the surface of the puzzle down to the bare minimum needed to solve the puzzle.
I have never done any kind of reverse-engineering in my life, but I would really like to figure out this algorithm. Does desmume have the tools that would enable me to figure out how this algorithm works, and if so, what kind of resources can I look at to help me reach that goal?

Sample puzzle creation

Thanks

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#2 2022-12-28 03:45:33

zeromus
Radical Ninja
Registered: 2009-01-05
Posts: 6,169

Re: Picross 3D puzzle generating algorithm

desmume's debugging tools are weak-sauce. no$gba has been the standard for this for a long time. Even if you can get desmume's debugging working, it's inferior to no$gba's. Check melonds too, maybe it has a debugger now (I have no clue really).

You will also want to find the NDS romhacking scene, since most romhacks are comparable to this in terms of complexity. They probably have idapro scripts that can load a whole nds rom and decompile it to some degree.

Since it takes a few seconds you can probably break the execution at almost any point and you will find it is in a very circumscribed section of code (well, the sections could be spread around potentially). That should be helpful for finding a starting point.

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#3 2022-12-28 22:53:51

desbronze
Member
Registered: 2022-12-28
Posts: 2

Re: Picross 3D puzzle generating algorithm

zeromus wrote:

desmume's debugging tools are weak-sauce. no$gba has been the standard for this for a long time. Even if you can get desmume's debugging working, it's inferior to no$gba's. Check melonds too, maybe it has a debugger now (I have no clue really).

Thanks. It's been a hot minute since I've done anything with NDS emulators, so I didn't realize no$gba had outpaced in this regard.

zeromus wrote:

You will also want to find the NDS romhacking scene, since most romhacks are comparable to this in terms of complexity. They probably have idapro scripts that can load a whole nds rom and decompile it to some degree.

As for this, do you have any idea what the home base for nds romhacks are?
I hadn't messed with NDS romhacks in over a decade, and everything I knew was all on YouTube back then. I doubt stuff like this still happens there.
Is there a discord or a different forum for that?

Last edited by desbronze (2022-12-28 23:32:08)

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#4 2022-12-29 02:26:40

zeromus
Radical Ninja
Registered: 2009-01-05
Posts: 6,169

Re: Picross 3D puzzle generating algorithm

beats me, all I know about is romhacking.net

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