Finding Secrets in Viva Pinata's Code and Making Cursed Pinatas

I figured out how to mod Viva Pinata with mixed results. Rare's sleeper hit title is basically abandonware, but I have a lot of nostalgia for this game. Here's a small showcase of some stuff I found in the code, and some modding experiments from me as well as the active Viva Pinata community.
The TechRules channel was a big inspiration for me to keep trying to mod stuff on my own. It's pretty fun when you get it working :O)
If you want to try out looking at the code yourself, here's the notes/tutorial I set up: docs.google.com/document/d/1A...
clown on me:
/ meiroseos
/ meiroseos

[@DarkDevero]

It's a pain but I'd love for this modding to become easier with the help of determined people like you, from increased garden caps to new pinata content mods, I'm sure the small cult following of viva pinata lovers would latch onto that kinda thing and potentially bring interest into a sequel

[@meiroseos]

if you'd like to try modding yourself try the instructions i wrote- hard for me to work on it these days

[@slurpythedog2153]

Petition to make the game not abandonware Also, your spot on about TIP stuff. I actually kinda blank when it comes to OG info, all of my in game “muscle memory” is for TIP But yeah Snowdrops (and snow) are exclusive to tip, which had a Snow/Desert theme. It makes the romance mazes a bit more visually appealing too. And yes, TIP basically only exists to add most of the “cut for time” features of vp1, since even though all of the devs were super passionate, it underperformed.

[@meiroseos]

It's a huge bummer the game underperformed, it's quite a well put together experience. I had wanted a rerelease of Classic, I would prefer to just buy a new updated copy than to rescusitate it in compatibility mode

[@slurpythedog2153]

@@meiroseos Yeah, I hope either the two games or just the entirety of rare replay somehow made it onto switch, I have no doubt they would find new life there, and some more of the love they deserve

[@shelbysmith6557]

I know the OG like the back of my hand, I’ve only played tip a few times

[@SociallyAwkwardPatriarchClone]

I hope we get the sequel eventually ported to pc

[@MossyGirly]

I really hope they make a remaster, sequel, reimagining, whatever of this game. Please I need it so much. One of the things I wanted so bad was to be able to have the sours keep their sour form, I so many fake online tips as a kid lmao

[@meiroseos]

Technically this game is in the Rare replay collection on xbox, I think! I think it's like a 25% chance it's possible to mod the pinatas to keep their sour forms- but there are some issues if the texture of the pinata isn't on the correct rigged internal model when the pinata moves.

[@triviapinata2698]

Hehehe, I see one of my facts in this video! Glad they’re getting more traction. Oh, and a correction: it’s not Syrupents that are referred to as boomslangs internally, but Twingersnaps. You can see this by looking at the Bink files for their romance dances. The pun names for piñatas were a very late addition, which is why they use real animal names. Anyways, this video is fascinating! Thanks for doing it!

[@meiroseos]

Cool beans, I wasn't totally sure which snake was which, but kinda guessed since the snake was green and syrupents are green. But I guess this makes sense since theyd need 2 namea for Syrupents and Twingersnaps in the code.

[@GalaxyPolar]

Jesus, those mod glitched Piñatas are horrifying 💀. Had I seen that happen in my games as a kid, I legit would've shit bricks 💀. I already have dreams about the game from time to time ever since I got hooked into it, I don't want them to start turning into nightmares 😅.

[@meiroseos]

:'0) don't worry, the glitched pinatas never will happen through normal play. May your pinata dreams be peaceful and filled with fun

[@cherrieevans3014]

Ok so I know this is from a year ago but viva piñata is one of my favorite games of all time and lately it’s all I’ve been playing thanks to that video for getting it set up on windows

[@meiroseos]

Glad you have been enjoying it again :0)

[@codymerritt9751]

I have no idea why this game felt so amazing and felt so great. But I'm about to play this game again and beat it but I'm about to. Love this game

[@queenofthefrogs1115]

This was so entertaining and well made, I expected over a few thousand views. I look forward to seeing more from you!

[@meiroseos]

Very kind of you! Thank you Miss Frog 🐸

[@supersmashjay4746]

You need to post more videos like this This channel has potential

[@meiroseos]

would love to do more of this stuff, mostly the time required and lack of video editing tools lmao

[@destronlaserwave9566]

I like finding lost media in video games, especially on an obscure game like this. Neat video. Also those Piñatas will live in my nightmares.

[@ThrwG49]

Both the original game and Trouble in Paradise were included in Rare Replay for XBOX One.

[@Gotsta]

i feel like as a comunitiy we should mode dlc need seeds new Pinata, sour pinata, houses, objects to tinker, transformations, new off site locations etc etc everything just get tit done it would be amazing homage to this Lowkey Beaut

[@meiroseos]

It would be super cool to have mods- I welcome anyone to try and contribute

[@V3r0nicle]

My little boy self would've gone crazy if he saw these codes back in the day and likely made his dream garden

[@ashemabahumat4173]

There a way to make the games sours back into sours while keeping their resident status? Love the way they look before they become tame

[@meiroseos]

Technically we've been sorta able to do it, but the model doesn't really work properly.

[@thisgameboss1274]

Interested why I found this video but would love more content

[@teddysmith4973]

I love this so much thanks for making this. Take me to the alternate timeline where they continued this franchiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiise. Im considering getting Xbox Game Pass to get access to TiP on pc

[@pvt.pineapple9008]

Great job!

[@meiroseos]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed!

[@luckybeast1234]

Have there been more advancements in Viva Piñata modding? I love this series and would love to see mods for it

[@meiroseos]

If you'd like to take up modding feel free to contribute

[@chazboney9076]

this is a very interesting and well made video!!! I'm making a viva pinata iceberg, do you mind if I use some of your footage/discoveries ( with credit of course)

[@meiroseos]

Thanks, glad you liked it. Sure, you're free to use stuff as long as you credit & link back to the channel. Let me know what you come up with! Cheers

[@mr.wailord4225]

This is amazing

[@meiroseos]

Thanks man

[@charliemayfilms1550]

The main mod I'd like to see is increased garden space, it's so limited and its annoying.

[@meiroseos]

I've gotten this comment a few times, I think it'd definitely be fun to have more space. Unfortunately I do not know how to make it happen and could not find where this is defined.

[@shelbysmith6557]

My favorite game

[@xanadu2469]

love the viva pinata content

[@meiroseos]

Thank you for watching !

[@moonjg4418]

Hey sorry to ask like a weirdo: since you know how to mod the game do you know if there is away to make it so that you can zoom out more? And can you remove or lower the object limit?

[@meiroseos]

I do not know how- I think other people may have but i havent tried a camera out of bounds tool yet

[@squiddyft.insecurities3549]

omg is viva piñata making a comeback

[@SociallyAwkwardPatriarchClone]

Can we eventually get TIP on pc?

[@_Vettin_]

well this is interesting 👀

[@luckyspaids2227]

Link to the video to download viva pinata on PC?

[@eepersjeepers1285]

It's interesting to see the game bugging out and the animals having unusual proportions.

[@wolfgodkamui]

Goodness I adored this game(still have my OG copy but can't install it do to not having a DVD drive lol), and always wished for mods..this sounds like a big step ^w^. If there was a specific mod id want to see happen...would be a unicorn fix; they turn blk and im not sure if its a PC thing only bug.

[@meiroseos]

I never got as far as a unicorn 🦄 the only thing I could think of are variants. Do they have a specific black color variant? If not then I suppose it would be a bug

[@michaelkozas8692]

Is it theoretically possible to remove the piñata cap (Garden space limit) using something like this?

[@meiroseos]

Here's my best (theoretical) answer: tldr; Yes, anything is possible. Long answer: If the garden space is just defined as some coordinates it may not be hard to search for where it is defined and change the values. BUT that doesn't mean it would work. There may be bounds that make it so that the game crashes, there may be weird behavioral bugs depending on how AI is written. Some objects like the totem pole that are out of bounds may not have 'safe' interactions or any at all. If I get the chance I'll search for it in the code

[@meiroseos]

Ok I went and briefly searched around, I could have missed something but I couldn't find a way to easily do this. Most of the functions the way I decompiled it are dissembled as assembly code, which is my personal purgatory. Future possibilities are trying to dissemble the code using other settings, or trying another tool. I am assuming this game was written in C or C++, so if there's a better decompiler maybe I could get further.

[@Darumacandy]

Where can I find that community?

[@Dynocation]

I'm about a year late, but is it possible to increase the decoration and pinata limit using this method of messing with the code?

[@meiroseos]

I didn't see this in the code but I wasn't looking for it- I don't have much time to tinker with it but feel free to crack it open yourself

[@angelbryan98]

Is it possible to get outside the garden boundaries? I always wanted to see and explore the rest of Piñata Island.

[@solarcookies]

You can use ninja-ripper and blender to see the full map (its mostly 2d)

[@meiroseos]

@@solarcookies Cool- I didn't know this

[@ravensong132]

How did you get viva pinata on pc?

[@meiroseos]

Hey there! I followed a tutorial by Anime Nyan on youtube. I recommend checking out their channel / searching on youtube!

[@rudyogorman592]

So would it be possible to mod this version of the game?

[@meiroseos]

yeah, you can mod PC using the method I used, or if you dig in archives online some people modded the original xbox version (I think)

[@BryanIRM]

How are u playing viva piñata in pc? Can u upload a tutorial about how to install it? Owo Pd: Nice video

[@meiroseos]

Thanks! I found a tutorial on youtube for how to install it- check on youtube first and then try the vivapinata subreddit

[@agentredactedvr]

hey were is the comunity of thses viva pinata people also great video!

[@meiroseos]

thanks for the kind words! Heres a link to their discord (link expires in 7 days tho) discord.gg/UMHxNCeK they're pretty friendly!

[@dieselox9746]

Is there anyway to remove the space cap? Im always tired of having to remove everything for a few pinata

[@meiroseos]

I'm not sure if there is, I haven't found anything to do that. I'm not sure if it would work even if you could expand past the given space.

[@sfooshy4517]

@@The_Immortal_Ph0enix im making this my mission rn

[@aeroon9991]

Weird request, but since you have access to the code, and presumably the files... Would you be interested in uploading the game's soundtrack onto KZbin? I would really appreciate it! Nobody has any high quality rips of the entire soundtrack, the shop and pause themes are always missing. ;u;

[@imacommentj259]

i really hope someone can get TIP running in an emulator of some sort

[@lllexani]

ive started playing this game when i was 7, I'm still playing LOL

[@meiroseos]

LOL I started playing it forever ago too

[@Nooo893]

Viva Pinata 2nd favorite game. Grrrrr make game more known

[@meiroseos]

too bad it isn't as popular, a new pc release would b nice

[@sweetlepie.3.28]

This is amazing lol

[@richanddarksbane1439]

Interesting

[@samanthaperez358]

what code language is viva pinata written in?

[@meiroseos]

Not sure, probably C or C++i think

[@codymerritt9751]

I wish they would make a new one

[@meiroseos]

I am NOT affiliated with them, but some group of fans is attempting to make a spiritual sequal

[@unhuggableteddy]

God teir game god teir video

[@lewbamb3213]

Why don’t u try modding in a famous piñata in vp tip since there’s only 1 person left that has one

[@creepercalvin]

This game deserves to be a mobile app as it would work well in this format I guess like the new everdale or farmville

[@meiroseos]

it would be pretty cool if there was a similar mobile game.