Major update: As of PCSX2 SVN 349 and later the videos in Ar Tonelico do a lot better. The opening video when you first boot the game plays to completion without problem. I suspected the other ones were working too and they seem to be, I played all the videos from the extras menu and none of them hang. I would recommend you use the public beta build 351 or newer over this patch, however I will leave the patch here for posterity and because some people might want to stick with the supported release of 0.9.4. Also note that if you want to see the REAL videos as the game was meant to display them, you must NOT use my patch since it REPLACES the ones that were crashing, so you don't get to see them. Anyhow I hoped my patch helped some people in the short span of time it was useful. The PCSX2 team rocks!
Author's note: If you've never played Ar Tonelico before this post might contain some tiny spoilers.
Hey everyone, this is my first post. As with some other people on this board I was frustrated by the unskippable FMV in Ar Tonelico that occurs when you set off flying towards the blastline. I found no fixes after a good long search. So I wanted to fix it myself but I had no previous experience with patches and the simple SceMpegIsEnd patch did not work. Anyway long story short, after a lot of reading and fooling around I have devised a patch that WILL get you past that specific FMV. It's more of a hack actually. I had tried to replace the pointer to the FMV with one to a different FMV that COULD be skipped but that was flawed logic. The routine is preventing the skip, not the FMV itself. It would play the other FMV but still lock. Then it hit me. Replace it with a pointer to an FMV that DOESN'T crash and will exit normally. I also had to revise it and replace other videos Here you go:
Code:
gametitle=Ar Tonelico US
comment=Some hacks to get past unskippable FMVs Patch by Squall4226
//Hack replaces pointer of problem video with a pointer to
//Misha's cosmosphere LVL 1 video, allowing the game to continue.
//Hack for video of Airship ascending tower
patch=0,EE,005948a4,word,0090da40
//Same hack for video AFTER Slepnir fight
patch=0,EE,0059423c,word,0090da40
//Same hack for Phase 2 end credits
patch=0,EE,00594818,word,0090da40
//Same hack for Phase 2 clear vid
patch=0,EE,00594728,word,0090da40
//Same hack for Phase 3 end credits
patch=0,EE,0059482c,word,0090da40
patch=0,EE,00594840,word,0090da40
Now when you attempt to fly up the tower, the cutscene will be replaced with the cutscene that plays the first time you enter Misha's Cosmosphere. The same hack will be applied to the video after you fight Slepnir, and to the phase 2 and 3 end credits. Also note that this will only work for these SPECIFIC FMVs mentioned. All the movies up to that point can be skipped by pressing start before they crash. There may be other unskippable movies that crash after these. I don't know. The same hack should work with them with the proper memory addresses. If you find any other crashing videos (that cannot be skipped just by pushing START!)let me know and I will attempt to fix them in the same manner. I hope some people benefit from this. Also, thanks to the PCSX2 team for the great emulator. You guys rock!
P.S. The file is attached and a couple of screenshots as well.
Once again, as of SVN build 349, I don't think this patch is needed and it will prevent you from seeing the proper videos, so don't use it unless you are having problems!
EDIT: New version, video immediately after the fight in the same sequence had same problem. Was fixed in same manner.
EDIT2: Same thing happens in unskippable phase 2 credits FMV. Will update tomorrow.
EDIT3:New version with fix for end credits. I now have a save in Platina ready to start phase 3. Nice
EDIT4:New version with fix for phase 2 clear phase 3 start interlude.