Password generator for Rayman 1 (PSX) PAL version

[kemptom8]

Hello guys!

As most of you probably know, Rayman 1 uses passwords to load/save game data if no memory card is used. These passwords are generated based on which level you are at, what levels have been completed and the system also keeps track of the number of lives and continues.
I was curious about how this was done, so I decided to analyze the system and try to find a working formula for it.
It didn't seem easy at first, but now I am glad to announce I cracked the Rayman 1 password algorithm! Those of you who are interested in this can find the password generator here:

https://kemptomprojects.com/rayman_pwgen/

As far as I know these password only work for the PAL version. Apparently the NTSC version has different passwords.
Feel free to let me know if there are any bugs or problems with the generator.

Enjoy!

Cheers

Kemptom8

[RayCarrot]

Nice work! If you want to add support for the NTSC version you can check my source code for it if you'd like . I reverse engineered it for the password generator in RCP. I didn't add the PAL version myself since as you said they use different data structures (but they're generally the same).

[hoodlumsworld]

This works really well, great job. But do we know why the data structures are different between PAL and NTSC?

[RayCarrot]

It's just so the same passwords can't be used between them. The actual data is the same, just stored in a different order and with different encryption tables. The game has quite a ridiculous amount of verification checks to make sure the passwords are accurate.

[PluMGMK]

Great work guys!

Also, from the code posted above:

Code: Select all

if (level >= 17 || FinBossLevel.HasFlag(Rayman1FinBossLevelFlags.MrDark))
    return $"Mr Skops has to be beaten before Mr Dark";

We were recently discussing how this is the case on PSX, but not PC. I wonder if they put this validation check in the password system and only realized at the last minute that it was actually possible to skip Skops in a legitimate game. That might explain why the "solution" they came up with (removing the return-to-map sign from Mr Skops' Stalactites) was so ridiculous!

[Hunchman801]

This is a really nice tool, Kemptom! Works just fine and looks pretty good as well.

[Retrofuge]

That sounds really cool. I would love to give this a try, it's seems like a neat tool in general. Thanks for making this!

[kemptom8]

Nice work! If you want to add support for the NTSC version you can check my source code for it if you'd like . I reverse engineered it for the password generator in RCP. I didn't add the PAL version myself since as you said they use different data structures (but they're generally the same).

Thank you very much! I will take a look at the source code in more detail soon and try it add support for the NTSC version as well. Would indeed be cool.
It's nice to see a reverse engineering of the actual code. It's funny the actual implementation looks pretty different than the one I came up with by analyzing the passwords and looking for patterns. As always in programming there are many ways to get the same result

This is a really nice tool, Kemptom! Works just fine and looks pretty good as well.

Thanks a lot!