Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies Decompilation Project

📖 About

This project aims to create a 1:1 disassembly and decompilation of Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies for the Nintendo DS.
The primary focus is on the USA version of the game, with the goal of making it fully recompilable.

---

⚙️ Setup

🛠️ Prerequisites

Installing make

• Windows:

  • Install make by using MSYS2.
  • Alternatively, if you develop Homebrew applications, it comes bundled with DevkitPro installation.

• macOS:

  • Install Xcode Command Line Tools, which include make:

    xcode-select --install
  • Alternatively, if you use Homebrew:

    brew install make

• Linux:

  • make is usually pre-installed. If not, install it using your package manager:
    • Debian/Ubuntu-based systems:

      sudo apt update && sudo apt install make
    • Red Hat-based systems (Fedora, CentOS):

      sudo dnf install make
    • Arch-based systems:

      sudo pacman -S make

Compiler

• Download the compiler mwccarm.zip.
• Extract its contents to a folder named tools in the root directory of the project.

ROM Setup

(TODO: The Makefile currently only produces the executable, not the ROM)

---

🚀 Building the Project

Once everything is set up:

1. Open the command line in the root folder of the repository.
2. Run the following command:

   make

This will initiate the compilation process.

---

🤝 Contributing

📤 Submitting Contributions

Important

Ensure the decompiled code you submit produces the same binary as the original release game.
(TODO: Implement a hashing mechanism to verify this.)

Known Issue

• The binary currently doesn't match the original game due to unresolved issues with .bss sections. (Help fix this!)

---

🧑‍💻 Current Goals

The immediate objective is to fix the .bss sections in the disassembly:

• At the end of main.s, there are numerous labels meant for a .bss section.
• These labels need to be matched with their correct memory positions, either in main.s or the relevant overlay files.

---

🔧 Useful Tools

1. Ghidra (with the NTRGhidra plugin):

   • A powerful reverse engineering tool for DS games and code.
   • Download Ghidra
   • Get NTRGhidra Plugin

2. Desmume:

   • A DS emulator with excellent debugging features.
   • Download nightly builds

3. No$GBA:

   • Another popular DS emulator for debugging, though less user-friendly.
   • Download No$GBA

---

✨ Notes

This project is a work in progress. Community contributions and feedback are welcome to help improve accuracy and functionality!