DSVania Randomizer is a randomizer for the three Castlevania games for the Nintendo DS: Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia. It's only compatible with the North American versions.
Download the latest release: https://github.com/LagoLunatic/dsvrandom/releases
Source code: https://github.com/LagoLunatic/dsvrandom
Report issues here: https://github.com/LagoLunatic/dsvrandom/issues
DSVRandom has options to randomize:
As well as several other options that change how the game is played:
Every seed should be completable as long as you don't use the options marked as "experimental".
If you think you've found a seed that's unwinnable, first check the spoiler log (located in the same folder as the randomized ROM) to make sure you haven't missed something.
If you haven't missed anything then you can report the bug here: https://github.com/LagoLunatic/dsvrandom/issues
When making a bug report be sure to include the seed, randomizer version number, and all the options you checked. The easiest way to do that is to simply upload the spoiler log, which lists all of those.
The path where DSVRandom is located must only have ASCII characters in it - the program will not launch if there are any unicode characters in it.
Install Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48145
Q: Do I need to farm enemies to progress?
A: No, progression items and skills won't drop from common enemies. They'll be laying around somewhere.
All bosses (except Dario) in DoS and Wallman in OoE can also drop progression skills.
Q: Do I need to damage boost or jumpkick off enemies to progress?
A: No, progressing won't require anything involving common enemies. You won't need to jump on spikes either.
Q: Do I need to complete Nest of Evil/Large Cavern/Training Hall to progress?
A: Nest of Evil and Large Cavern are optional, you don't need to do them if you don't want to.
Training Hall, on the other hand, can be required.
Q: I can't find something I need to progress!
A: You might have forgotten a breakable wall. Progression items and skills can be hidden inside breakable walls.
If you check the "Reveal breakable walls" option in the Game Tweaks tab, all breakable walls will always blink as if you had Peeping Eye/Eye for Decay on.
You can also check the spoiler log located in the same folder as the randomized ROM. This lists the area that each progression item got placed in.
Q: I fell into a pit and can't get back out without jump upgrades!
A: Check your inventory if you're using the map randomizer, starting room randomizer, or the portrait randomizer. You have a magical ticket that doesn't get consumed when used, so you can use that to return to your starting room any time you get trapped like this.
But if you're not using any of those options you won't have an infinitely usable magical ticket, in which case you may want to report this as a bug.
Q: I have double jump, but I can't progress in Minera Prison Island without Magnes.
A: Do a jumpkick off the breakable wall next to the Magnes point: http://i.imgur.com/y0TXcE0.gif
Note that you must angle the jumpkick straight down. The hitbox on Shanoa's foot is too small to hit the wall when doing a diagonal jumpkick.
Q: I have Puppet Master, but can't find a way out of Wizardry Lab.
A: You can activate the moving platform in the long room at right side of Wizardry Lab, then walk to the end of the room and use Puppet Master to get on top of the platform: https://i.imgur.com/l6NuZPY.gif
Q: Why can I charge spells in midair sometimes?
A: One of the things the Skill Behavior randomization option does is randomly allowing skills to be used in midair that normally only work on the ground. This can happen regardless of whether Jonathan or Charlotte gets the spell.
Q: In vanilla DoS, getting ability souls out of order (like Doppelganger before Balore) gives multiple abilities for the price of one. But this doesn't seem to work in the randomizer?
A: This is a bug in the vanilla game that the randomizer fixes.
Q: I'm using some experimental options, and I think I'm stuck.
A: The experimental options are incomplete and it's rare for the game to be beatable if you use them.
Q: There are a few candles with glitchy, corrupted-looking graphics.
A: This is a known bug that happens in DoS sometimes.
Q: I'm playing Portrait of Ruin randomized on my flash card, and getting a lot of crashes.
A: This is a bug with PoR that occurs only on certain flash cards, such as R4 cards. It happens in vanilla PoR too, so it's unrelated to the randomizer. I recommend playing on emulator if you get this issue on your card.
Q: There's a randomly placed enemy that keeps knocking me back through a door as soon as I walk through so I can't progress.
A: Enemies knock you back depending on what direction you're facing, not the direction they hit you from. So when you're walking through the door and don't have control yet hold the D-pad in the direction away from the enemy. This way you will face away from the enemy the instant you gain control and be knocked towards the enemy instead of back into the door.
There is currently no Discord server specifically for DSVania Randomizer, but you can join the general Castlevania Randomizers server if you have questions or are looking for people to play with:
https://discord.gg/5SnUANS
If you want to run the latest development/beta version of DSVRandom from source, follow these instructions:
build_ui batch file located in the dsvrandom folder to compile DSVRandom's UI files. (Not to be confused with the build_ui file in the DSVEdit folder - that one only compiles DSVEdit's UI files.)ruby dsvrandom/dsvrandom.rb to launch DSVRandom.build_ui again to update the UI files.