I've gotten an email inquiry about having another event. The thought is monsters with a stat composite of 3000, distributed however you like.

The only monster not allowed would be Metalner, although if someone has one they want to enter, we could run an exhibition round for it.

Opinions?

I think this is a great idea and I'm already training my monster to fight in the event =)

Having a total of 3000 stats will make training easier and allow varied stat distributions which I think will definitely make things more interesting.

However, with regards to monster choice... the reason Metalner is banned and the reason the choice of entrants for competitive battling is so limited is because of guts rates. The fact is most monsters aren't even worth considering because there are other monsters out there that have a better guts rate and will beat them all day long.

What I propose is to impose maximum stats on monsters depending on their guts rate. I believe it would be possible to effectively "balance" MR2 battling like this, or at least make it much better.

I was thinking for every 1 less guts rate a monster could be allowed say 100 extra stats.

Metalner:3000 total (guts rate 6)
Pixies: 3100 total (guts rate 7)
Ducken: 3200 total (guts rate 8)
...
Dragon: 4300 total (guts rate 19)

I'm just going on the data contained here: Monster Rancher 2 Archive (PSOne): FAQ: The Most Important Game Data: Guts Regeneration Rates

The problem is I can't seem to translate it to make sense with the data provided by mepersoner here: Monster Rancher 2 Archive (PSOne): FAQ: The Most Important Game Data: Seconds per percent (additional info on guts regen)

It may be because the difference between each guts rate gets less as it gets larger, or something else. I don't know.

If successful, every single monster in the game can be made into a combat worthy entrant. Every subtype of every main will be useable instead of just choosing the one with the highest guts rate, so you can use the monsters you actually like!

I would be very grateful if someone can help me understand the relationship between the different guts rates so I can get these values worked out.

Using gameshark can you choose the stats of a monster?

What I'm asking is it possible by any means to simply create the monster you want with zero training involved?

There is, but, there are ways to spot the cheating.

That's okay, I'm not going to be using it. I just wanted to make sure that if I spend time training monsters it wouldn't be too difficult for someone to shark me an opponent if they didn't have monsters of their own ;-)

Lisa Shock, OldSkoolScot, or who else can answer
me.
How are made the tournaments?
Online matchs by the emulator or each participant
does the upload your saves and the matches are
made by the organiser of the tournament?

Have some topic that explains my doubts?

I mean that I am interested in participating in
tournaments here, and when i learn how it works,
I will organize MR2 tournaments in my community.

Sorry to have posted here, I didn't want to open a
new topic, because I'm still learning how to use
the Forum correctly.

(Sorry for my english)

In advance, thank you for the replies. :)

Emulator play is not allowed.

For the games on PSX, you need a PlayStation Dex Drive. (watch out, they also made a model for N64) The Dex Drive lets you plug your memory card into it and transfers saves to your computer. You then email the save to the host who re-loads them onto a card and runs the event in 2P mode. We use the chatroom to broadcast the event like a baseball game on the radio, the host types out what happens as it happens. (we will probably move to gmail chat or facebook chat for future events)

For MR3 and later, a devices called DexPort is used.

Thanks for replying, I am already negotiating a
dexdrive.
Is there any possibility to accept a save for the
tournament without being through dexdrive?
I read that there is a way to pass saves to the PC
by means of the PS2, by software installed on a
pendrive.
I ask this because the PSX Dexdrive is a rare
accessory, hard to find even on ebay.

Accept other methods of transfer of saves from PS1
to PC would give a chance for more people to
participate of the tournaments.

It would be feasible, since it also is a console's
save, not an emulator.

Thank you again
I intend to participate in the next tournament of
MR2, I'll stay accompanying the MRM, see you
later, bye.

I haven't seen any software to be able to convert then restore saves from a ps2. We used to use DexPorts and Sharkports. I'd consider it, but, I need the save to be used by the game. As far as I know, the game itself looks at the memory card slot not the PS2's usb slot.

In 2-player mode, can you select a monster from the USB slot in MR2 on a PS2?

I do not believe that you can use the USB to load
a save, but the method consists in managing the
saves from ps1 or ps2 memory card, so you can
store a save sent by another Member that used this
method on a PS1 memory card and load the save
normally in the game.
This is the program called ulaunchelf, which has
several functions, including back saves.

You will find several tutorials about it on the
internet. (I couldn't put a link here)

Still haven't read and have some details to work
out just fine, but still I believe that it is more
viable than getting an accessory such as the
Dexdrive, and the little I've read, I saw that
works perfectly.

Lisa Shock, why can't I write the lines until the
end of the page as you do?

Your posts:
-----------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------

My posts:
----------------
----------------
----------------
----------------

I use Google Chrome, have something there?

Are you using a Mac or other Apple product? Mac users tend to have this happen as the software reads the ends of their lines as hard stops. I alternate between Firefox and MS IE. (don't like Chrome because of privacy issues)

I don't quite understand how one is expected to get that program onto the PS2. I know that the system will reject burned CDs (unless you add a modchip), so, I am guessing that it's via memory stick or USB, but none of the documentation discusses this.

As long as you can, one way or another, get the save file onto your PC I believe it can be converted into the right format to be emailed to Lisa and played by the game on the Playstation.

I haven't done enough looking into this myself, but as far as I'm aware there is software that will allow you to convert Monster Rancher 2 save files into the appropriate format.

If I am right once the save game is on the PC the process of turning it into a Playstation compatible file is not a problem.

An alternative could be to train the monsters ourselves and when they are ready we could email the specs and you could shark them for the competition?

I don't know how difficult it is to shark monsters as I've never done it myself but it seems like this could be a very simple and effective method to host competitions?

Sharking isn't that easy, and has unintended consequences. The codes we have weren't really developed for shark, and some (a lot actually) don't work. IIRC shark only allows so many codes per game, so, you might get stats but not nature, etc.

BTW, I'd like to take this opportunity to glare at a particular member who stopped me from buying 100 dex drives @ $10 each on eBay in 2002... yes, really ...

Lol =) Well I know it can't be me because I only joined in 2012 *phew*

Would you be willing to give it a try? Nature only affects the moves learned and what special you get, so if you could shark the monster type, (read appearance and guts regeneration) the monsters moves and the stats then the monster is essentially complete.

The form and nature could be altered very quickly on the Playstation prior to competition if they weren't right as the monsters will have many years of lifespan left..

A possible method would be to create a template monster and use the first few weeks of its life to get the right nature/form as it seems very easy to do this straight away and then shark the appropriate stats/moves/appearance/guts rate onto the basic monster. I'm just theorising here because I've never done this before but I definitely think it's worth exploring if it doesn't take too long to test as it would eliminate the need for the Dex!

Looking online very briefly I can see Shark codes that will alter a monsters nature and form =) Along with practically every other aspect of the game.

Really Lisa, the process for installing the ulaunchelf requires the recording of a CD with a specific software, What probably wouldn't read in a PS2 locked.
Here in Brazil, 95% of PS2 are unlocked with modchip and the use of pirated discs is something already out of control.
There is some form of a ps2 reads some sort of disc recorded even if it is locked? Something like data or .WAV?
If you do not need a PS2 unlocked for this process, this would be the perfect solution for anyone who does not have a PS1 dexdrive.

I use a normal pc with windows Xp (I use programs that do not work in win7), and now I'm posting by firefox, I hope that solves the problem of the text, thanks for the tip, Lisa.

About using gameshark, I think it would be strange, as Lisa said, would bring unexpected results, and it would also be another monster that would be there, this may seem like nonsense, but it wouldn't be the monster that you coached and prepared for the tournament, it would be a monster "manufactured" similar to yours.

If there were a practical solution and easily accessible at all, many people would want to participate in the Monster Rancher 2 tournaments.
I'll do the uLaunchELF on my PS2, and then I will try to do in a PS2 locked and I will inform the result.

About the gameshark, on many monster types you can't choose what techs it would have, the code just gives them all. Same with stats, it just maxxes them. Some trainers specifically avoid getting some techs on their monster because the tech is weak and misses a lot in battle. There's a lot of planning that you'd lose right there -and the battles would be a lot of Slap, Miss, Slap, Miss, Slap instead of exciting big moves.

And, most american consoles aren't chipped, and I'm not going to ask entrants to risk ruining their console by trying to chip it themselves, or to go out and spend a couple hundred dollars on a new console.

I understand, Lisa, the idea is to find a way that don't take risk to hardware (PS1, PS2, PC, etc.) to anyone, but you could consider this as a valid option, since in a sense
would reach a larger audience that is interested in participating in Monster Rancher 2 tournaments, and impose only the dexdrive method restricts the possibilities.
You do not need to encourage anyone to unlock PS2 for UlaunchELF method, just to inform that are accepted the saves made this way, so only those who already have a PS2 unlocked would do that.

But, to everyone's joy, after some research, I found several other methods that make it possible to pass the saves of the PS1 memory card to the PC.

The methods boil down to assemble simple schemes enabling the direct connection of a memory card (and controls) on a PC, I'll say that are very simple, anyone can do.
I will study the methods and then tell you the most reliable and safe to be made.
Bye.

(sorry for my English, I promise to improve it soon)

That's always the hard part, connecting the memory card to the PC.

First of all I just want to say I think this could be a practical solution that is easier for everyone and that's why I'm mentioning it again.

Secondly I'd like to mention (although I think I've already made it pretty clear) I detest max stat max move monsters and am extremely keen to get away from this, and again do I think this is the solution.

Okay so look at this. I'm well aware of the poor quality of gameshark codes available online...

"MAX STATS"
"MAX GOLD"
"MAX ALL ITEMS"
Yeah... no thanks.

So, gameshark uses hexadecimal.

Observe..

RESULTS
80098FC4 xxxx = Wins
80098FC6 xxxx = Losses
8009903C xxxx = K.O.
xxxx= 0000-03E7

Here we have the gameshark code for creating your wins, losses and KO's, and they've nicely shown us using this number how the code is broken down.
The first part is "wins", the following four characters XXXX represent the value of wins.
The second part is "losses", the following four characters XXXX represent the value of losses...
and so on.

STATS
Lif Max 80097A20 03E7
Pow Max 80097A22 03E7
Int Max 80097A24 03E7
Ski Max 80097A26 03E7
Spd Max 80097A28 03E7
Def Max 80097A2A 03E7

How much do you want to bet that...

Life = 80097A20
Pow = 80097A22
Int = 80097A24 and so on ...

and that 03E7 here again represents the maximum value????

I've never worked with hexadecimal in my life or used gameshark before but 2 minutes of searching on google has convinced me that this stuff is ezpz.

Your monster that you've raised and nurtured whether you like it or not is stored electronically as a series of characters in binary, hexadecimal etc... If you shark my monster from an email I send using these codes then you *will* be creating my monster, and perfectly. I'd never be able to tell the difference by simply observing it eat, sleep, fight and train and I'm fine with that.

So yeah, unless MR2 is somehow broken when it comes to sharking then it should be absolutely no problem to do this. If it turns out that it's a pain in the behind to work out each value I could create a Hexadecimal tutorial on MRM and people would mail you the completed shark codes so you just have to punch the numbers in, though it might be simpler than you would at first think.

Either way, if this works don't you think it's a legitimate solution? I mean it's just an email with some characters and after a few minutes you've created exactly the monster they've specified with no need for additional hardware.. that sounds pretty good to me.

I'm aware that getting the right moves onto the monster could be trickier and I haven't looked at that yet, but I'd like you to put negative thoughts aside and just imagine *if* it all worked perfectly and was really easy, would you consider it? Would you even consider any other option or would this be almost perfect?

If so, I'd be happy to spend some time wrestling with the trickier aspects of this for you to get this process rolling, all I'm asking is that *if* you do think it's a good idea (forgetting about the quality of gameshark codes online, I can work them out. I'm purely talking about the principle of it) then physically give it a try and see where the obstacles and issues actually exist as they may be rather easy to solve and fewer in number than it would seem at first glance ~~

Some info regarding move slots already contained on this website:

"Monster Rancher Metropolis: Monster Rancher 2 Archive (PSOne): Miscellaneous Q&A (Post New Questions Here): In the Monster Type section for Pixie... By Richard Ryley on Friday, October 19, 2001 - 02:21 pm:

I noticed that you have a question about why Pixie seems to have so much trouble with Gameshark. I happen to know the answer to this. Pixie has no attack in the first slot of Medium Range, it's a bug or something. So when you set that activation code to 0600 120C, you're selecting that empty slot. ("06") 0700 120C will work.

You can add this onto that thread or post it yourself as you wish."


This was the page I was referring to originally https://www.gamefaqs.com/ps/197977-monster-rancher-2/faqs/4954 for the other parts.

https://www.statman.info/conversions/hexadecimal.html

Good lord that's useful. 3E7 = 999 which explains 03E7 as the max values for stats and looking more closely at the gamefaq page there there's every imaginable aspect of the monster there I don't think this will be a problem :)

If you use the max stats code there's a glitch. It makes the number really large, like a million something. The number text bleeds outside of the usual area for the numbers. Also, depending on what you do, like enter a tourney, it can increase.

Also, remember that the GS only allows a certain number of codes to be used at one time, so, you can't entirely create a monster with it.

Ok well with the help of a friend I've been experimenting and having huge success, as in I'm pretty sure I've got the process down. I don't want to go into detail about my methods as I'm sure that would just bore you ;-)

If you want to put me to the test just give me some monsters with moves/stats/loyalty/form/everything and I'll let you know how I get on. If you don't believe me I mail you the Dex Drive file and you can battle them etc to see that everything's okay.

I'm confident I can create any monster with any moveset with any loyalty with any form with any training style ~~

I can also create monsters that don't exist but they look kinda dumb lol.

This will require no cheating on your end btw if you're not comfortable using gameshark, in fact I'd be happy for you to mail me entry specs for any monster for tournaments in the future and I can shark them here for you then mail you the Dex Drive file so all you have to do is make them fight and hopefully record it and post it on youtube or something because it would be cool to watch the fights instead of just hear about the results and I don't have that sort of capability.

I've just tested a 999 all stats monster btw nothing going off the screen and all stat gains 0 at end of the battle as you would expect :D

The guts rate isn't right =( Everything else is perfect.

This could be a blessing in disguise though!

Guts rate was the confounding variable and instead of having to adjust stat amounts for each monster depending on their guts rate we can use a uniform guts rate O_O

I've just fixed this "problem" by breeding two sharked monsters together resulting in a "real" Ghost. (Ghost was 1 of my 2 experiments, both monsters sharked from market Zuum and both had Zuum guts regen rate after sharking)

The "real" ghost has the right guts rate and I can shark the stats/moves/nature etc on top of this real base and it will all work 100% fine.

So not only can I shark any monster we also have the option to have uniform guts rate across all monsters!

Another issue is fairness. I mean if people are just turning in specs to be sharked, what incentive is there for them to actually raise the monster. I could see a lot of people just submitting numbers and pretending to have raised the monster.

I don't see the fun in that and I can't see huge amounts of people doing it because if you don't get to train your monster yourself and you don't get to control it manually in the tournament, what's the incentive to play this game at all? There'd be literally nothing to do.

If they really really want to though... fine? I don't care, it's their loss not mine. I'll be hand raising my monsters to get a proper feel for them.

The most important thing though is this ease of entry may actually enable tournaments to take place in the first place, the MR2 competitive scene isn't exactly thriving at the moment...

Bck in the day, we had all sorts of cheats. What you'll start to see are monsters that aren't possible to raise beating ones that were actually raised. Dex Drives are for sale on Amazon for less than the original price! They originally cost $49.99.

Your word on this is of course final, I'm just putting my ideas out there to try and help the process of arrangement a tournament. I know there hasn't been one for quite some time and I don't think there is likely to be one unless we make it available to a wider audience and without requiring the purchase of additional hardware.

Could you expand on monsters that aren't possible to raise or other cheats that you're concerned about?

If someone tries to submit any monsters that can't be raised legitimately i.e. a Ghost without those rubbish basic power moves it's going to be very easy to spot and they can simply be disqualified from entry.

Remember that people can always mail me their memory cards, I will return them. There are still quite a few new memory cards, including first-party ones, on eBay.

Ah, good, finally remembered my log in and password.

Been awhile. Hi guys!


So my two cents on this issue, my PS2 died years ago, I mostly play 1 and 2 on the PS3 now. I'm not sure if that works with a dex drive or not.

But listen, I have an epic love for this game. Even so I'm not likely to go out and buy a new niche electronic to participate.

But if I could just type in the stats, and maybe give you a screenshot or video of me playing to show it's legit? I'd be all over that.

I think it's worth giving it a shot just to see how it goes... surely no harm in doing a test-drive?

The Dex connects to your computer, it has nothing to do with the PlayStation. It's a memory card device. Just mail the cards in to the host, me.

Okay, I'm not saying this to be contrary, and maybe I am misunderstanding, but let me just clarify one thing if I can without being too much a pest.

Playing on a Playstation 3, I do not use a memory card. There's nowhere to even put one. The console's internal hard drive has a built in way to save PSOne games, but that is not something I could remove to participate here.

But then, you know, I've never done anything like this. Maybe there is something obvious I am not seeing.

Well anyway thanks for listening.

It will be easier, cheaper and faster to email your stats.

I don't know why you'd want people to email a memory card when it doesn't rule out cheating and it costs people extra time and money. There are only drawbacks and zero benefits doing this.

Rahu email me the stats of your monster to lettherebepoker@googlemail.com and I'll mail Lisa the Dex Drive file.

She can inspect it herself, and if at the end of the day decides not to accept entries in this way then there's no harm done, will take you 2 minutes to type up your monster and it won't take me too long to make it.

At worst we can test the whole process and I'll have someone elses monster to battle mine =)

I live in Edinburgh, Scotland and there's just no way I'd be mailing my memory card around the world for something like this everytime there was a tournament. Pure electronic transfer is obviously the best idea, it's worth a try. We could try a tournament or two... to test it out? If it somehow fails then there's no harm done but overlooking the cleanest and most efficient option for no tangible reason seems like a very bad decision.

The memory card can easily rule out cheating. We have ways to spot it on the card. And, a first class letter with a memory card costs about $1.70 to get from the UK to here and takes about 5 days, no biggie.

A lack of Dex Drives hasn't been the issue with tournaments, the issue has been getting people to participate. Heck, LC still has unfinished grids because there weren't any more entrants back before PS3 was even announced.

If you guys want to do this on your own, fine. Set up your own website and go for it like all of the other tournament groups.

I won't be running it as one of my events.

Wouldn't it be possible to stop cheating using observation from monster stats alone? You haven't expanded any further on the type of cheating you're referring to, maybe that's why I'm a little confused.

I'd rather donate that $1.70 to this website than spend it mailing a memory card which takes 5 days with no guarantee of a safe return.

I think getting people to participate may be easier if it required only an email... don't you?

I just don't understand why you are so opposed to giving this a try, what is there to lose?

If it doesn't work out you can say "we tried it, it didn't work, forget about it." Until then I don't understand why you aren't keen to at least give it a shot and see what happens? =(

I'm happy to go with whatever decision you ultimately want to make, and I've already expressed that, I'm just perplexed by your lack of interest in exploring this fully.

Organizing a tournament takes a decent effort on
the host (managing the data files,
organizing the event time and place, relaying the
fights, documenting/archiving the
results et.)

What Lisa is suggesting, and what I agree with, is
that if you would like to host your own
tournaments with your own rule-set of what is
allowed, then you should do it. (From what I
can tell, you will be using methods that are
outside of the rule-set that MRM and LC
established for their own tournaments including
acceptable methods of delivery of data).

You can use the MRM forum and MRM facebook page to
advertise and ask for ranchers to compete and post
your rules, competitors, brackets, wins/losses,
etc.

You will still need to accept the responsibility
of a tournament host if you are unwilling or
unable to accept or comply the terms or conditions
of an existing host's guidelines assuming they
have the availability to run one.

By all means, if you have the time and energy to
organize it and are able to ensure that all
participants will be treated as per your
guidelines and treated equally or fairly, go for
it and use these resources to gather participants!

Wouldn't it be easier to play on an emulator and
then send the save files in?

It might be easier, but as per the rules for a tournament supported by MRM...
"6) All saves must be from legitimate console save files. We do not accept entries from anyone playing the game on emulators. "

The complete MRM rules and guidelines for participants in MRM run tournaments are here: Monster Rancher Metropolis: The Coliseum (Public Monster Rancher Tournaments): Guidelines For Tournament Participants & Spectators

Yeah, the game itself is exponentially easier, and less time consuming, to play on an emulator. So, it allows less skilled players to have a quick and easy path to accomplishing things that they would not be able to on a console. So, it's simply not fair to other entrants.

And, those playing on emulator need to be reminded that they aren't really playing the game. They're playing on super-easy mode while the emu acts like a digital helicopter mommy, bottle-feeding them the best possible outcome every time, so they don't have to really think or plan much while making a monster.

I encourage you to step away from the kiddie table and start playing the grownup game.

What do you mean by "bottle-feeding them the best
possible outcome every time"? Is there a bug when
playing mr2 on an emulator?

I know you can speed things up on emulator which
only really saves time. How does it make the game
itself easier? I only mentioned it because it
would be easier than people having to get a dex
drive.

I have thoroughly played the game on console and
of course really enjoyed it. I just mentioned
emulator for convenience sake and it would allow
more contestants.

Mean2you, emulators aren't allowed because they're illegal.

Don't worry though, I'll attempt to host some kind of ladder/tournament here on MRM and all you'll need to do is email me the stats of your monster to enter.

I won't be able to record or broadcast the matches unfortunately so I'll need to find someone who can do that in the long run.

I'll make a post about this and try to get it going fairly soon so if you or anyone wants to email me some monsters (type/subtype, moveset, stats, nature, form) that will speed up the process.

Make sure your monster has a 3000 stat total or less, and don't worry about guts because all monsters will have the same guts rate so pick your favourites!

Yes, we don't allow them because they are illegal, and we cannot encourage people to engage in illegal activities. There will never be an emulator tourney sanctioned by this site.

That said, the emulators have settings where you get the best possible outcome from each week. Normally, when ranching on a console, a monster might randomly get 6,8,9,11,fail, or a great with 15 points for a week's drill. Emu players get the highest possible number every time, no resetting involved. Same goes for post-battle statgains, gains from errantry, etc.

Oh wow. I didn't know about the best possible rolls
each week thing.

I understand you not supporting emulators
considering it would be illegal.