ROM Hacking Discussions

Aryan143 · May 3, 2013

DrakoBlare said:
So, I tried to make a ROM asking questions but I cant see it so I guess I am doing something wrong.

Anyways, I do not hack ROMs but being a Pokeman fan since a child (only anime, never had a Nitendo console and have only played FireRed, Emerald, Black and White series and PMD on emulators the last 2 years)

So, recently, after reading a creepy pasta I found out that you guys hack Roms and have been browsing this forums for the last 2 days.

Ok, so, is there any ROM HACK that lets you start with any Pokemon you want or is 3 the magic number that must be used in every Pokemon game? (seems like it)

Also, do you guys need to patch game ROMs or do it for legal reasons?

And finally, I read some stickies and saw that you must have
1) The game ROM
2) The hack (patch)
3) An emulatour
4) A patcher

So, which emulators should I use? Is there a specific one that works better or anyone will work? And one final question. Does 1 patcher work for everything or do I have to donwload different ones? (I read something about .ISU and .ASU that need different programs to patch)

Well I haven't seen any rom hack which allows you to choose any starter. But 3 is not a magic number. People can make it upto any limit which can allow you to choose any pokemon but it will require a lot of space from the rom and it will take a lot of scripting.

We patch roms only because distribution of roms is Illegal. And some people have slower connections so they intend to download patches instead of roms because patches are smaller in size.

For emulators of GBA, VisualBoyAdvance is the best. Almost 95% of people use it or VBA-M to play GBA games.

A patcher works for its supported types of patches. So LIPS only works for IPS patches and A-Patch only works for APS patches.

miksy91 · May 3, 2013

robin22gongon said:
Hey guys! I just thought of this:

Why do we hack Pokemon ROMS? Why don't we just make/develop our own GBA ROM using coding (HomeBrew) etc.? We can just make one engine similar to the one Pokemon uses so we can still use the tools they made for Pokemon ROM Hacking. We can make it so that it reads the same scripting language XSE uses. We can make a custom .ini for it for use of other programs. I know it's hard but I know everyone would benefit from it because we can make custom features (Overworld battles, Fully Custom Intro Animation, Support for more Pokemon that a 32mb ROM can support, etc.)

~robin22gongon

GBA is actually a very inefficient system (not to mention GB I'm using for my own hack!), so it would be a much better idea to start off building a game using a high-level programming language, like C. It could still have all the same functions a normal pokemon game could (if one really wanted to put it that way, no one would want to do that though because; "Why not make it a lot different 'cause you can?") and a lot more, being better at doing everything.

There are reasons for everyone who hack roms here:

1) People who know how to program
"It would be a tedious project to code all the game mechanisms from scratch. When you already got a fully functioning game, why not just make it work differently?"

2) People who don't know how to program
"There are tools (no, I'm not referring specifically to "newbs" here) for everything and we can use them for hacking which feels a lot easier than learning how to program anyway".

There you go :)

Aryan143 said:
Well I haven't seen any rom hack which allows you to choose any starter. But 3 is not a magic number. People can make it upto any limit which can allow you to choose any pokemon but it will require a lot of space from the rom and it will take a lot of scripting.

It wouldn't actually require "much scripting" (not like, checkcase1, checkcase2, checkcase3, ...., checkcase 350, ...) at all, but assembly coding yes.

One could code it so, the player could set some value between 001 and [amount of pokemon in the game] in some box and it would use the pokemon matching that value as the starter pokemon. That's that.

DrakoBlare · May 3, 2013

Difference bewteen IPS and APS?

Also, is the a way for me to hack the game in order to start with Bagon?

P.S: Can I play GBA hacked ROMs with desmume? Just asking, in case there are HACKS that use 4th/5th gen ROMS.

TweenyTodd · May 3, 2013

DrakoBlare said:
Difference bewteen IPS and APS?

They use different programs. Main difference anyways.

Also, is the a way for me to hack the game in order to start with Bagon?

Yeah, theres lots of ways to do this. You can create a person event to give you a bagon, or change one of the three starter pokemon to bagon.

Can I play GBA hacked ROMs with desmume? Just asking, in case there are HACKS that use 4th/5th gen ROMS.

No, because Desmume is only for DS games. You can use Desmume for 4th or 5th gen hacks, but VBA is the standard in 3rd gen.

DrakoBlare · May 3, 2013

And are there any 4th/5th gen hacks?
So far most of them seem to be from Fire Red and Emerald. I think I saw some Ruby ones to . I also think I saw a black and white one but I am not sure.

I guess older gens are easier to hack and run more fast so they are preffered right?

TweenyTodd · May 3, 2013

DrakoBlare said:
I guess older gens are easier to hack and run more fast so they are preffered right?

I believe the real reason is that there are far more tools in 3rd gen as its been around longer.

And are there any 4th/5th gen hacks?

As a matter of fact...
Blaze Black and Volt White

Blaze Black 2 and Volt White 2

Pure White and Pitch Black

robinjea · May 3, 2013

miksy91 said:
GBA is actually a very inefficient system (not to mention GB I'm using for my own hack!), so it would be a much better idea to start off building a game using a high-level programming language, like C. It could still have all the same functions a normal pokemon game could (if one really wanted to put it that way, no one would want to do that though because; "Why not make it a lot different 'cause you can?") and a lot more, being better at doing everything.

There are reasons for everyone who hack roms here:

1) People who know how to program
"It would be a tedious project to code all the game mechanisms from scratch. When you already got a fully functioning game, why not just make it work differently?"

2) People who don't know how to program
"There are tools (no, I'm not referring specifically to "newbs" here) for everything and we can use them for hacking which feels a lot easier than learning how to program anyway".

There you go :)

Well, there are a lot of inefficiencies if you just use a normal Pokemon Game engine. (A LOT, really) I mean we can support Isometric Pokemon games (more 3d feel to it), sideview battles (to save some space we just mirror the sprites, not so good idea though) and a lot more that we can do to make it almost the same with the one the DS game engine uses.

1) Yes it would be tedious but beneficial, efficient and more productive. And we can always copy portions of the original game! Like we can merge Fr and Emerald or something like that!

2) Well, there should be just a person or a team who would make an engine for all to use.

Well, I don't know. I'm just saying. I might as well try to learn C and make one. And I ain't gonna share it when I finish it. Ever. :P

EDIT: And to add to that, we can also make card-based games! (Pokemon TCG including new Pokemon, YGO, Magic etc.) And what he said vvvv more freedom on modifying.

DrakoBlare said:
And are there any 4th/5th gen hacks?
So far most of them seem to be from Fire Red and Emerald. I think I saw some Ruby ones to . I also think I saw a black and white one but I am not sure.

I guess older gens are easier to hack and run more fast so they are preffered right?

Well if you're looking for 4th or 5th gen hacks you can look here and here.

And 3rd gen games are hacked more because: Even a noob can try and make small hacks for them because of the easiness brought by the tools, game engine, and a lot more. They also take up not much space. AND A LOT MORE. :P

DrakoBlare · May 3, 2013

So, any link that tells me how to make Bagon a starter? Can I hack HACKED ROMS? (I guess I can)

So, coming from a guy who knows nothing about hacking buuuuuut, wouldnt having your own engine grant more freedom in contranst to depedning on just modifying? Wouldnt it grand more freedom to people? Then again it looks like people managed to completely change the game by just modifying it

Aryan143 · May 4, 2013

DrakoBlare said:
So, any link that tells me how to make Bagon a starter? Can I hack HACKED ROMS? (I guess I can)

So, coming from a guy who knows nothing about hacking buuuuuut, wouldnt having your own engine grant more freedom in contranst to depedning on just modifying? Wouldnt it grand more freedom to people? Then again it looks like people managed to completely change the game by just modifying it

To make Bagon your starter, just make a script event with all the starters and one gives a Bagon.

You can hack HACKED roms. That's how hacking works. One person hacks script in a rom that already have maps hacked. (just an example)

And yes, having your own engine will grant more freedom. But the problem is the difficulty. One has to do a lot of things to make an own rom and this takes years to complete. And then it can't be made by people who don't know programming.

(I just wanted to tell that infact, all the staff members of an other forum(including me) are working on a completely new pokemon based RPG game. We also have screenshots of it if anyone wanna see them)

robinjea · May 4, 2013

Aryan143 said:
To make Bagon your starter, just make a script event with all the starters and one gives a Bagon.

You can hack HACKED roms. That's how hacking works. One person hacks script in a rom that already have maps hacked. (just an example)

And yes, having your own engine will grant more freedom. But the problem is the difficulty. One has to do a lot of things to make an own rom and this takes years to complete. And then it can't be made by people who don't know programming.

(I just wanted to tell that infact, all the staff members of an other forum(including me) are working on a completely new pokemon based RPG game. We also have screenshots of it if anyone wanna see them)

Yes! I wanna see! I wanna see! But if it's on RPG Maker, nevermind.

Satoshi Ookami · May 4, 2013

@robin: You CAN hack hacked ROMs but you SHOULD NOT unless the creator allows you.
As for the engine... We have Pokemon Essentials so no one really wants to do new engine...

Aryan143 · May 4, 2013

Here are the screenies:

123d1367580311-forum-rpg-game-%2Asneak-peak%2A-%5Bdbtech%5D-forumon-rpg-v1.0.9-%5Blite%5D.jpg

124d1367580321-forum-rpg-game-%2Asneak-peak%2A-%5Bdbtech%5D-forumon-rpg-v1.0.9-%5Blite%5D2.jpg

125d1367580329-forum-rpg-game-%2Asneak-peak%2A-%5Bdbtech%5D-forumon-rpg-v1.0.9-%5Blite%5D3.jpg

And no, its not on Essentials.

robinjea · May 4, 2013

Ash493 said:
@robin: You CAN hack hacked ROMs but you SHOULD NOT unless the creator allows you.
As for the engine... We have Pokemon Essentials so no one really wants to do new engine...

Yeah I already know that, do'h. I don't hack hacked ROMs. Sometimes I use ROM Bases but I never Hack hacked ROMs. I don't like Pokemon Essentials because first; it's on RPG Maker so I can't make it portable (in other words, there's no Emulator for it on the PSP to play it with). Not really user-friendly. Scripting is easier in GBA. Also didn't you sensed that I'm already an experienced ROM Hacker by my post? :P

Aryan143 said:
Here are the screenies:

And no, its not on Essentials.

All image links are dead. They seem to be an attachment.

Aryan143 · May 4, 2013

robin22gongon said:
All image links are dead. They seem to be an attachment.

But I can see them. And yes, they are attachments. I will upload them to tinypic in a moment.

EDIT: Done! Hopefully you can see them now:

DrakoBlare · May 4, 2013

I figured out that I would have to script an event, thing is, I do not know how :P

So, do you need to know programming to hack ROMS or are the tools doing the job for you?

And the screens look interesting but, is it pokemon based in that you use pokemon or does it just work like pokemon (judging by the screens, I guess the second).

And wouldnt making a Pokemon Engine be illegal?

karatekid552 · May 4, 2013

DrakoBlare said:
I figured out that I would have to script an event, thing is, I do not know how :P

So, do you need to know programming to hack ROMS or are the tools doing the job for you?

And the screens look interesting but, is it pokemon based in that you use pokemon or does it just work like pokemon (judging by the screens, I guess the second).

And wouldnt making a Pokemon Engine be illegal?

It won't be illegal if you don't sell it. It will just be a fan game then.

I personally use a combination of tools and ASM. The tools allow me to edit data much easier, but sometimes you need to rewrite or write up new code for the way the game is going to use said data which is where the assembly comes in. It also allows you to be very, very creative because it pretty much gives you limitless possibilities as long as you know what you are doing.

TBH, you don't need to know ASM to make a good hack. The tools are enough to make a decent one. However, if you really want to take you hack beyond the norm, then you need to know how to hex edit and how to use ASM. That is where the true creativity comes from and sets you apart from everyone else.

miksy91 · May 4, 2013

karatekid552 said:
, you don't need to know ASM to make a good hack. The tools are enough to make a decent one. However, if you really want to take you hack beyond the norm, then you need to know how to hex edit and how to use ASM. That is where the true creativity comes from and sets you apart from everyone else.

Yeah and as an addition to this, I'd say that knowing how to use hex editor efficiently is just where "the roots of a great hack are". What I mean by this is that surely you can do lots of things using the in-game build programming language, script code.

But understanding how to script properly takes "more brains" than understanding how to work things out using hex editors. After all, hex editing is mostly used just to edit data that the coding uses. Scripting then again is modifying the coding that uses the data. There is a huge difference between the difficulty levels of these two processes.

Assembly then again is really no way different from scripting; just using a different kind of programming language and the only addition to it is really having to learn how to use registers for working out with data. And there are "many levels" of assembly hacking as well, just like there are many levels of scripting.

Code:

Script1
---------------
lock
msgbox @text
release
end
 
@text
"Hey, I can print text using this thing!"
 
 
Script2
---------------
lock
loadSomeVarIntoComparableArea [varNo]
jump 0x1 @case2
 
@case1
[I]doStuffHere...[/I]¨
 
@case2
[I]doDifferentStuffHere...[/I]

Sir daniel · May 4, 2013

hey i dont know if this is the right place to say this but im making a ruby hack with a new type in it. Its going to be type "light" and it will replace type "???". I used unlz to change the writing for the type in image 1485 but im not sure how to change the colour of the symbol because it has multi pallets to make each of the symbols.
Does any1 know how to solve this problem? help would be much appreciated

Aryan143 · May 5, 2013

DrakoBlare said:
I figured out that I would have to script an event, thing is, I do not know how :P

So, do you need to know programming to hack ROMS or are the tools doing the job for you?

And the screens look interesting but, is it pokemon based in that you use pokemon or does it just work like pokemon (judging by the screens, I guess the second).

And wouldnt making a Pokemon Engine be illegal?

It is pokemon based but there are no pokemon. There are dinosaurs.

Shadowraze · May 6, 2013

Sir daniel said:
hey i dont know if this is the right place to say this but im making a ruby hack with a new type in it. Its going to be type "light" and it will replace type "???". I used unlz to change the writing for the type in image 1485 but im not sure how to change the colour of the symbol because it has multi pallets to make each of the symbols.
Does any1 know how to solve this problem? help would be much appreciated

You should ask this questions here. http://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=79614

I'll answer it anyways, goto Tile Molester and find where the image lies for the symbol of the type and try and use any of the light colors from the original pallete and it should look better. :)

ROM Hacking Discussions

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