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-   -   [Archive] ROM Hacking Newsletter 2008 | Issue 1 - 18 (https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=149701)

Thrace October 4th, 2008 10:40 PM

Rom Hacking Newsletter
Issue 6 - Saturday, 4 October 2008
Introduction
Opening words

Another week and another issue of RHN. This issue we have an interview of Darthatron by thethethethe, a hack review by Kaizer-X, some pretty darn useful tips and tricks and of course the HOTW mini-review.

The debate idea received excellent feedback but unfortunately I won't be able to organise it for a while yet. Unless someone else wants to get it running I can't see it happening until December at the earliest.

I seem to be running out of things to say here. Well anyway hope you enjoy issue number (already more issues than Hiroshi and Martin's put together D:) 6.
Article by dshayabusa




Hacking News
Staying current with the rom hacking scene

Map Reviewing

As of the week following next (hopefully) there will be a Map review by Neti who is very well known for mapping himself. Only the outstanding map of that week will recieve the review. For more info PM Neti. Details and guidelines will be in the next issue as well as the first review.

Hack Rating System
RHN will now follow a standardised rating system similar to that of IGN, ratings and their meanings are described below.
Spoiler:
10.0 to 9.0 - Masterful
Its almost impossible to make a hack that is perfect, but ratings in this range get pretty close. These hacks are flawless in all aspects of hacking, they are innovative and engaging.

8.9 to 8.0 - Impressive
Hacks that we feel are outstanding and are exceptional in at least one aspect will receive ratings in this range. Hacks that we feel are worthwhile and that everyone will find enjoyable. You'd need to put in a lot of effort to get this rating.

7.9 to 7.0 - Good
An excellent hack that is let down by a one or two major problems. Above average in all aspects but just missing a few things it needs to be great. Not amazing but has potential.

6.9 to 6.0 - Passable
Hacks that are just above average. Nothing to really get excited about. Nothing particularly horrible about the hack but nothing all that great either.

5.9 to 5.0 - Mediocre
A hack that provokes no emotion, standard, run-of-the-mill whatever you want to call it, these hacks are as average as they come.

4.9 to 4.0 - Lackluster
Hacks that do not have enough effort put into them. Probably not worth the attention for the time being. Has some potential to be better, but not enough to become something spectacular.

3.9 to 3.0 - Poor
Hacks that are flawed in all areas, most likely caused by inexperience by the author rather than effort. Not worth checking out regularly, will probably be cancelled the next week.

2.9 to 2.0 - Bad
Hacks that we recommend you avoid, not worth playing. Might have a few interesting ideas but ultimately is just very poorly executed. Major flaws in all aspects.

1.9 to 1.0 - Terrible
A hack we believe should not have had its thread accepted. These hacks are not even worth browsing over. These hacks are usually made by people trying to achieve internet stardom.

0.9 to 0.0 - Abysmal
Hacks that are not even truly hacks, more like edits. A few small changes to the original game, achievable in mere minutes.



HOTW Winner
Spotlight on the Hack of the Week

Pokémon Snowstorm [Link]
Hack Author: Lucario 9
Reviewed By: dshayabusa

What's this? A hack with ice tiles? No way, since when? Ok so I'm exaggerating a bit but honestly there are just way too many of these right now. Overused tiles aside this hack is pretty decent.

The story is pretty intriguing so far, the idea of being raised by a Pokemon albeit "farfetch'd" (lawl) certainly captures ones imagination. The rest of the story seems to meld into the archetypical Pokemon story. I'm sure that it will develop later on. It certainly has the potential.

Mapping is really nothing new, all maps that have those tiles have almost the exact same type of mapping, I'm guilty of it myself. Thats not to say the mapping is bad but people will start to get bored of it. Also what is up with screenshots of the player jumping down from a hill? I've seen that in about 4 hacks now.

Hopefully Lucario 9 decides to implement different tiles later on (though with a name like Snowstorm that seems doubtful). If you can get over the tiles this hack certainly has potential in its storyline.
Article by dshayabusa




Hack Review
Hacks in review

Pokémon Police [Link]
Hack Author: G.K.S
Reviewed By: Kaizer-X
Reviewer's Rating: 3.0/10

Oh Yea!! Another hack with the main character being a member of the most famous crime-fighting group; the Police. Unlike Pokémon Flame of Rage, this hack has gone one step further by having the main objective of fighting Team Rocket base leaders all around the region and then in the end fight with the leader of Team Rocket, Giovanni instead of the traditional Gym Leaders.

The Storyline is interesting starting with an event of a break-in and then resulted in you joining the Police Force to fight Team Rocket. The hack is also very creative I with the setting of two rivals who both joined the Police and Team Rocket respectively.

The scripts are quite good, not really that amazing but it is decent enough and G.K.S has also done well in text-editing some of the events including the one you fought your rival.
But some of the scripts are left hanging in the air as it is uncompleted and cause the story to be confusing.

But in spite of all this, there is are some major drawbacks in the hack, especially in terms of mapping. The maps are too wide and empty. This has made the hack dull and a little boring. There are also a lot of errors in the warping. One minute you are going into the mart the next minute you have gone to a totally different map entirely. This is very annoying as it spoils the storyline and confuses the player as they don’t know what their next task is.

Personally I think this hack has room for improvement and for now I wouldn’t recommend you to play it unless you really want to.
Article by Kaizer-X




Tips and Tricks
A cool new trick that you may not have known about

Finally we've got a Tips and Tricks segment for the mappers here. Most of these can be found in AdvanceMaps readme.

CTRL + Right-Click Drag
This is used to select multiple tiles when mapping. Simply hover over the first of the tiles you want to select, whilst holding down the CTRL button and the Right Mouse Button drag your mouse over the tiles you want. This can be done in your map and your tileset. A small window will appear showing you what you have selected if you are in Map View. It will also select the current movement permissions for the tiles. This cannot be used in Movement Permissions but you can use it in the Block Editor.

Middle Mouse Button Click
Can be used in Map View and Movement Permissions. Clicking the middle button over a specific tile will fill tiles that are identical around it with the selected tile. This is similar to the paint bucket in Paint. Therefore leaving any gaps between tiles can cause unwanted filling. Unlike Paint however there is no undo function on A-Map so you should be careful especially with large maps.
Tip donated by AdvanceMap's ReadMe



Interview
An in-depth chat with...
Spoiler:
thethethethe says (9:49 PM):
Alright, hopefully there's no problems anymore?
Darthatron says (9:50 PM):
I'm ready when you are
thethethethe says (9:51 PM):
I guess I'll start with the simple question. How did you get into hacking?
Darthatron says (9:52 PM):
Well unlike the most people, I just stumbled upon PokeCommunity forums by accident. I then noticed the ROM Hacking section and got excited about it
Darthatron says (9:52 PM):
I played about 5 minutes of a hack, then decided I wanted to hack aswell.
thethethethe says (9:54 PM):
What hack was that?
Darthatron says (9:54 PM):
To be perfectly honest, I've forgotten. I joined nearly 3 years ago, you know.
thethethethe says (9:56 PM):
You're fairly well renowned for your programming talents. But what made you choose to create tools and things instead of making an actual hack?
Darthatron says (9:57 PM):
Well, the same year I joined I started doing a programming course at school.
Darthatron says (9:57 PM):
I wanted to learn how to HEX Edit, but it was rather annoying to learn, due to my short attention span.
Darthatron says (9:58 PM):
So, then I decided to try making tools, since there weren't many at the time.
Darthatron says (9:58 PM):
I found learning HEX Editing was much easier when I was making something as well.
Darthatron says (9:59 PM):
Don't get me wrong, though. I still think hacking is good, but I prefer to make it easier for other people, rather then doing things the hard way.
thethethethe says (10:00 PM):
Some time ago, I remember a hack of yours popped up in the scrapbox. Whatever happened to that?
Darthatron says (10:00 PM):
Well, I've been working on it less and less as the months went by. But be sure it's still coming.
Darthatron says (10:01 PM):
I prefer working on scripts, you see. And have barely any mapping skills.
Darthatron says (10:01 PM):
So it's difficult for me to progress.
thethethethe says (10:02 PM):
So you're somewhat similiar to me.
thethethethe says (10:03 PM):
But we haven't really seen too much from you lately. Why haven't we seen any tools from you recently?
Darthatron says (10:04 PM):
Well, as you might know, I took a rest from hacking for about a month. It was good, it let me get good at other things.
Darthatron says (10:04 PM):
I'm currently working on a tool that will helping with making title screens, and also world maps.
Darthatron says (10:04 PM):
Not a tilemap editor, though.
thethethethe says (10:05 PM):
There's like four of those now. No need for one more anyway.
Darthatron says (10:06 PM):
Indeed.
thethethethe says (10:06 PM):
In that break you took, did you ever consider not returning to rom hacking?
Darthatron says (10:07 PM):
Well, when I first went on the break, it was going to be me quitting. However, after getting very, very bored I decided I'd come back, after a month.
thethethethe says (10:08 PM):
Well, we won't all be hacking forever, how much longer do you see yourself doing this?
Darthatron says (10:09 PM):
Well, I like to think I'll be doing this for a while. But I do have other things to do as I get older... I think I'll probably stay in the community for another year and a bit. If you're lucky.
thethethethe says (10:11 PM):
Coolboyman is quite open about his ideas of hacking today. How do you feel about the hacking community, or even hackers themselves today?
Darthatron says (10:12 PM):
Well, when I first began hacking you needed to be fairly smart, since most of it consisted of HEX Editing. Now days there are lots of tools, and most are just copies of each other.
Darthatron says (10:13 PM):
I think most of the hackers in the community are... too young. The average age is about 12 now, it used to be around 15.
Darthatron says (10:13 PM):
Oh well, they're still not complete idiots.
thethethethe says (10:13 PM):
I see.
thethethethe says (10:15 PM):
If you could change one thing about the hacking community, what would you change?
Darthatron says (10:15 PM):
That's a hard one.
Darthatron says (10:16 PM):
I'd probably make it have less hacks that never get finished, and make people work on 1 hack at a time.
thethethethe says (10:18 PM):
Forcing people to work on only one hack at a time sounds great. I mean if you have enough energy to work on three hacks. You could probably put lots of time into just one.
Darthatron says (10:18 PM):
Exactly.
thethethethe says (10:24 PM):
You mentioned earlier that it seems like the average hackers age is about 12 or so. If Pokemon was to be aimed at a slightly older age group, do think hacking 'scene' would be different today?
Darthatron says (10:24 PM):
Definately.
Darthatron says (10:25 PM):
You look at the hacking scenes for Halo, and you can tell the maturity difference instantly.
Darthatron says (10:25 PM):
As an example.
Darthatron says (10:26 PM):
Even the cheating forums for games like RuneScape, or WoW are much more mature compared to Pokemon.
thethethethe says (10:32 PM):
With hex being something that is almost taboo in newer hackers, do you see any possibility of the fourth generation and a possible fifth generation being as advanced as the second and third generation hacking?
Darthatron says (10:33 PM):
I think that once the people who know HEX leave, that the community will begin to die.
Darthatron says (10:33 PM):
But, we are pretty set for the 4th generation. There are lots of tools in development as we speak.
Darthatron says (10:34 PM):
I'm not too sure about the 5th Gen, however.
thethethethe says (10:34 PM):
Have you ever tried to hack anything other than a Pokemon rom?
Darthatron says (10:35 PM):
Yes, I've tried hacking some of the Zelda games, and also Super Smash Brothers (64).
thethethethe says (10:38 PM):
You're apart of the ROM Reaverz Hacking Team, do you think a team works better than an individual?
Darthatron says (10:39 PM):
I think if you're good at everything you should work alone.
Darthatron says (10:39 PM):
But when you're like me and don't have graphics/mapping skills, then a team is best.
thethethethe says (10:40 PM):
But if someone knew were to have just begun hacking, would you recommend them to join a team quickly?
Darthatron says (10:41 PM):
No, I think learning things and giving them a go for a while is good when you first start.
Darthatron says (10:41 PM):
But if you've been hacking for a while and still lack the ability to do things, then join a team. But still, keep learning.
thethethethe says (10:42 PM):
Well, we should probably wrap this up soon. Is there any hack you'd like to recommend?
Darthatron says (10:44 PM):
I would recommend X-Buster's hack "Flame Of Rage" because it's has some briliant ideas and good game play.
thethethethe says (10:45 PM):
And what you said before could be considered advice but is there any other advice you'd like to give to new hackers?
Darthatron says (10:45 PM):
Try and learn as much as you can. Ask for help, but try and do things alone first.
Darthatron says (10:45 PM):
And, treat your elders with respect.
thethethethe says (10:46 PM):
Ok, thanks for the interview Darthatron.
Darthatron says (10:46 PM):
No problem, thethethethethethethethethethe

So the guest recommendation this week goes to Liquid Crystal:
http://i34.tinypic.com/29yns50.jpg
Interview by thethethethe



Closing Notes
Some house keeping

If you like RHN and get a decent rating or other award why not post it in your hacks thread? Not only would people appreciate your hack more but you'd be helping promote RHN. I might not be able to do the next two issues so if I can't I'll leave someone else to post it for me. Sorry about the Tips and Tricks, I know I could have done it alot better. So yeah, thats it. Hope you enjoyed reading Issue 6.
Closing by dshayabusa
CSS design and graphics by dshayabusa. Ask for permission if you want to use them!

Ninja Caterpie October 4th, 2008 10:53 PM

Dun-dun-duuuhn!
The new editon, eh? Pretty nice. I guess the tips and tricks could have been better, yeah, but it was pretty good overall. It was sort of duller than the previous ones, but who's perfect?

Spoiler:
...I'd say the youngest is about 10 and the average is still 13 or 14. I mean, there aren't any, what, 6 year olds here, are there? Darth...x.x

エロカメ October 4th, 2008 11:08 PM

http://img34.picoodle.com/img/img34/3/10/5/f_untitledm_f1534cf.png
:D

Nice work as usual. but why there's no rating ( 0.1 to 10.0) for Pokémon Snowstorm?

Ninja Caterpie October 4th, 2008 11:21 PM

Didn't he say before? It can't get a rating without a game to play.

TB Pro October 5th, 2008 1:27 AM

Nice job. This was great! It seemed a bit shorter than last weeks, but opposite to Dark Lakitu's comment, I think this weeks issue was well-written, and entartaining. It's sad you have to add the excerpts from the Advance Map Read-Me to this issue before some hackers see it at all >.< I liked this weeks interview a lot better than last week's, and as エロカメ pointed out, the recommendation is different than the award :P All in all, this was another great issue, keep it up. BOL!

torferno lvl-X October 5th, 2008 1:53 AM

I've subscribed to this thread great job! love it thanks.

Darthatron October 5th, 2008 6:57 AM

I loved this issue, even though it was shorter. When those Map Reviews come in, it will be a good length again. ^^

I agree with TB Pro, this weeks interview was awesome. Who knew that Darthatron was that freak'n cool!? =D

Keep up the awesome work, can't wait for next week. :)

Tyrantrum October 5th, 2008 10:37 AM

That was a very interesting interview to read. ;]
I really liked this issue, and I'm sure the next will be just as great. ;D
Good Luck~

Luck October 5th, 2008 11:31 AM

The new newsletter was great dshayabusa, i just felt that it was a bit short.
Now i can know what hacks to look at and what hacks to avoid.
the interview was interesting, and a bit long for an interview.
I wish you and your team the best of luck dshayabusa.

Blitzballer October 5th, 2008 7:06 PM

Well, I thought it was great and I liked the "Tips and Tricks" section! Just because it's been stated somewhere else, doesn't mean it can't get stated again! This would be one of those situations (I'm speaking to all you readers out there) where if you didn't like the tips, then send some in yourself!! =] If you feel it was a bit short, send in an idea for an article!!

EarthsVisitor October 6th, 2008 8:03 PM

Hello db.
I like what you've done with the newsletter.

It was something I had been trying to revive for a long time on this site, and you've done exactly what I envisioned. I commend you.

Keep up the good work.
And remember to keep it up with new innovative ideas, even silly things like a section for "common mistakes" or a "begginer's corner", maybe even articles on the hacking community itself, not just the hacks.

- EarthsVisitor, Rocket's Revenge and City of Evil, HotY 2007 3rd Place.
(Don't ask why I did that, it just sounds cool. xD That's right. PRIDE.)

destinedjagold October 7th, 2008 12:29 AM

my days of absence from the community...
Oh well...

The newsletter is really great, and I really love the interview. For the time being, I think thethethethe's a great interviewer.

The tips and tricks was a bit er, known in my case, as well as others, but oh well... :\

oh, and I should agree about the overused ROM-base, the snowy tiles for a FireRed ROM... :\

As always, continue the great work. :D

Surf October 7th, 2008 12:57 AM

I had a thought (amazing :P)
Maybe you can interview Lucario9 because he has won HOTW 3 times
just an idea

thethethethe October 7th, 2008 1:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hackimon12 (Post 4011051)
I had a thought (amazing :P)
Maybe you can interview Lucario9 because he has won HOTW 3 times
just an idea

But is winning that award three times that great of a feat?
I'm not trying to put him down, but I mean, he's won it three times in 10 weeks and not one of those hacks has had a release of any form. To me that just seems like we'll never see too much from him, and he'll remain in between hacks. But that's just what I think of it.

Thrace October 7th, 2008 5:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EarthsVisitor (Post 4010689)
Hello db.
I like what you've done with the newsletter.

It was something I had been trying to revive for a long time on this site, and you've done exactly what I envisioned. I commend you.

Keep up the good work.
And remember to keep it up with new innovative ideas, even silly things like a section for "common mistakes" or a "begginer's corner", maybe even articles on the hacking community itself, not just the hacks.

- EarthsVisitor, Rocket's Revenge and City of Evil, HotY 2007 3rd Place.
(Don't ask why I did that, it just sounds cool. xD That's right. PRIDE.)

Those are some great ideas, I'll try to implement some of those but maybe a thread for themselves would be better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Time (Post 4011024)
my days of absence from the community...
Oh well...

The newsletter is really great, and I really love the interview. For the time being, I think thethethethe's a great interviewer.

The tips and tricks was a bit er, known in my case, as well as others, but oh well... :\

oh, and I should agree about the overused ROM-base, the snowy tiles for a FireRed ROM... :\

As always, continue the great work. :D

Yeah I totally agree, thethethethe will do all future interviews, if he accepts of course.

Satoshi Sugimori October 7th, 2008 6:34 AM

Very nice only a bit short.. But it doesnt care.. But the tips where a little vague in my opinion.. well BOL!

Thrace October 12th, 2008 2:47 AM

Rom Hacking Newsletter
Issue 7 - Sunday, 12 October 2008
Introduction
Opening words

I've got school tomorrow and since HOTW hasn't finished yet I'm going to post this without a HOTW review. I can't do it on the hack that looks like its going to win either since its neck in neck.

There was something quite important I wanted to write here but I can't remember what it is, I'll edit this later when I remember.

This week we've got an interview with HackMew which I'm sure many of you will be interested in reading, a very interesting article on some user's attitudes towards hacks, a review of Mystic Dreams and also part 1 in a two part Tips and Tricks segment. Happy reading!
Article by dshayabusa




Hacking News
Staying current with the rom hacking scene

Update on Map Reviewing

I haven't had news from Neti yet so I think that he's still on holiday. Wind~ has started a Map of the Week thread so that will tie in perfectly with this.

Map of the Week
Wind~ has started a new topic for people to vote on the top Map each week in the Map Rating Thread. RHN will start a new segment on this. Be sure to check it out and cast your vote here.

Hack Rating System
RHN will now follow a standardised rating system similar to that of IGN, ratings and their meanings are described below.
Spoiler:
10.0 to 9.0 - Masterful
Its almost impossible to make a hack that is perfect, but ratings in this range get pretty close. These hacks are flawless in all aspects of hacking, they are innovative and engaging.

8.9 to 8.0 - Impressive
Hacks that we feel are outstanding and are exceptional in at least one aspect will receive ratings in this range. Hacks that we feel are worthwhile and that everyone will find enjoyable. You'd need to put in a lot of effort to get this rating.

7.9 to 7.0 - Good
An excellent hack that is let down by a one or two major problems. Above average in all aspects but just missing a few things it needs to be great. Not amazing but has potential.

6.9 to 6.0 - Passable
Hacks that are just above average. Nothing to really get excited about. Nothing particularly horrible about the hack but nothing all that great either.

5.9 to 5.0 - Mediocre
A hack that provokes no emotion, standard, run-of-the-mill whatever you want to call it, these hacks are as average as they come.

4.9 to 4.0 - Lackluster
Hacks that do not have enough effort put into them. Probably not worth the attention for the time being. Has some potential to be better, but not enough to become something spectacular.

3.9 to 3.0 - Poor
Hacks that are flawed in all areas, most likely caused by inexperience by the author rather than effort. Not worth checking out regularly, will probably be cancelled the next week.

2.9 to 2.0 - Bad
Hacks that we recommend you avoid, not worth playing. Might have a few interesting ideas but ultimately is just very poorly executed. Major flaws in all aspects.

1.9 to 1.0 - Terrible
A hack we believe should not have had its thread accepted. These hacks are not even worth browsing over. These hacks are usually made by people trying to achieve internet stardom.

0.9 to 0.0 - Abysmal
Hacks that are not even truly hacks, more like edits. A few small changes to the original game, achievable in mere minutes.



Hack Review
Hacks in review

Pokémon Mystic Dreams [Link]
Hack Author: Seth-kun
Reviewed By: thethethethe
Reviewer's Rating: 0.4/10

Looking at its download size, and taking into account that this was its third release. I wasn't expecting too much from this hack.

Almost as soon as I started playing, my assumptions were justified. The mapping is mediocre and the scripting was horrible. Close to every in-game script I saw was just an edited copy of another script that he had used. A simple Poké Mart script was attempted and failed horribly and didn’t work at all. Also a note to hackers out there, if you're going to re-use talking events from the original game at least text edit them so that that the player can't recognise the text.

One other problem I had with the scripting is one that I notice in lots of hacks throughout the Pokémon Hacking Community. How hard is it to add colour to the text. ‘textcolor 0x[X]’ is all that is needed. Only like 13 characters, nothing too extreme. I don’t understand why there are so many hacks without coloured text.

Okay, maybe I'm already fairly riled up now and I just feel like pointing out problems I have with the game, but Seth-kun what's the point of having a storyline, when you don't follow it? If you read his plot line from within the thread, and then play through the hack. You'll find no similarities, other than the fact that you receive a Pokémon. The storyline sounds fairly interesting and speaks of clashes between Celebi and Darkrai. My problem is that when there is still no mention of storyline events at the third release. There has to be some kind of problem.

If this is Demo 3, I'm glad I didn't see Demo 1.
Article by thethethethe




Rom Hacking = Popularity?
No, Rom Hacking = Originality
The Rom Hacking scene in perspective

I've noticed a large increase of Rom Hacks appearing in the showcase, with little next to nothing done, (I am guilty of this myself, but now it has become a problem) People have begun to slap on a thread title and a few maps with not much done at all, with progress extremely slow as well. To me this has become alarming, because it's now not about people having fun and trying to make Pokemon that extra bit better, they want to grab some attention and five thousand replies, which looks like it will never happen. I few years ago, Rom Hacking was at it's beginning stages and people were more interested in changing the Rom, making it fun, then getting a single reply, it was more of a self pride thing. But things have flipped around the other way.

There is something I must put out into the public, it's called originality. Which seems to really be lacking in some threads. An amazingly long complex story is not originality, a one or two line story which immediately grabs everyones attention is. New graphics doesn't mean originality, it means your hack is different, not original. Every hack is starting to become the same thing over and over, an evil team is trying to catch some legendary that will send you back in time or something like that. Or someone trying to save a professor or person of some sought. There are not very many open minded hacks out there anymore. A story takes a long time to develop, you might even start with a three word story and take a month to develop it into a three line story. It all takes time and imagination.

I don't wish to offend anyone, but there are a large number of hacks I would easily regard as useless, and maybe a few that are quite interesting. I, and many other people probably have this same feeling, hacks are starting to become uninteresting. I don't really have any interest in downloading a beta and actually patching it, it now seems effortless. I hope that this changes soon in the future, or rom hacking will have a downspiral effect.

Another small point I want to get to is Rom Bases, and repeated tile use. I have noticed a large increase of people using rombases, I now have the automatic impression the hack is low quality. My rating on any hack with a rombase is now 0, unless I can notice a quite substantial change. I would write more, but it seems like an anger speech, and thats the last thing I want this to be.

Thats all I have to say, peace out.
Article by Visual



Tips and Tricks
A cool new trick that you may not have known about

Titlescreens! The first thing the player sees when they first play a hack. Not vitally important but always a nice touch non-the-less. This week for T&T I'm going to show you how to recreate the Pokemon Genesis titlescreen. Its going to come in two parts since this is almost a tutorial. Keep in mind that is not, I will not explain everything, anything I know is in an existing titlescreen tutorial I will ommit.

Preparations
Spoiler:
Before you start making it you need to get an idea of what you want you're titlescreen to look like. Genesis is all about, well... Genesis! The beginning of the Universe so naturally space is an ideal background. I also included the two main Legendaries; Arceus and Giratina. Here is the rough version I made in PS.
Keep in mind that it may not be possible to get it looking 100% the way you want.

Gathering and Sorting
Spoiler:
Now we need all the images and tile maps for out titlescreen. I got the space background from a resource sheet of Metroid and the two Platinum sprites of Arceus and Giratina from M_X's site. Next are the tilemaps which you need to export out of the rom. They UNLZ numbers are below, courtesy of thethethethe's tutorial at PHO.

2010 - Pokemon Logo Tilemap
2012 - Charizard Tilemap
2014 - 'Press Start'/'Gamefreak' Tilemap

So, we have a total of 3 tilemaps to work with and 5 separate images. Obviously the trick here is to combine images. But which images do we put in which tilemap? Well lets think about this. If we remember the original FR titlescreen we know that the Pokemon Logo appears at the front with the Charizard behind that and the Press Start at the very back.

There are a few alternatives but I opted to have the Space Backgroud go in the Press Start tilemap. Giratina, Arceus and a custom (unflashing) Press Start will go in the Charizard tilemap and the original Pokemon Logo with my custom Genesis version title will go in the Pokemon Logo Tilemap.

You may have already spotted a problem. How can Giratina and Arceus both go in the same image? We need to insert that image as an indexed 16 colour file, surely Giratina and Arceus will take more that 16 colours? And its true, they do but there is a way around that, one that I will come to when we need to. For now simply place them both in the same image without indexing, load your favourite tilemap editor and tile away!

I'll continue this in next weeks issue.
Tip donated by dshayabusa



Interview
An in-depth chat with...
Spoiler:
(11:57:01 AM) Malin: Ready to begin?
(11:58:09 AM) HackMew: Kinda.
(11:59:00 AM) Malin: You've been hacking for a very long time now but what first got you into it?
(12:00:10 PM) HackMew: I would say curiosity.
(12:02:40 PM) HackMew: I like and always liked to understand how things work behind the scenes. And to adjust them to fix my desires, eventually.
(12:05:40 PM) Malin: So, currently your most well renowned tool is eXtreme Script Editor or XSE. XSE began production when it was voted most wanted in your own little poll. Was there any distinct reason as to why XSE was apart of that list?
(12:13:11 PM) HackMew: Actually XSE development started more than one year ago. And from a certain point of view I could say it's my first tool, even if I released A-Starter (early named Different Start R/S/E). If you're interested I'll explain you more about that. Regarding the little poll, XSE was part of the list mainly because I knew already that was people really wanted indeed. The first place was rather obvious. The results confirmed that.
(12:16:32 PM) Malin: Oh yeah sure, that'd be great
(12:16:44 PM) HackMew: Okay, fine.
(12:23:17 PM) HackMew: Since I took hacking seriously, I decided to learn as much as possible about scripting. At the time I was using ScriptEd which was a quite good alternative to a hex editor. Soon I learned about the bugs and the limits ScriptEd got. Luckily enough I found out there was a source code available, and the source was written in VB6. I knew just a little bit of VB6, but I decided to go ahed and edit the source to fix whatever my limited knowledge could dare. That's how my Enhanced ScriptEd got life.
(12:25:02 PM) Malin: Enhanced ScriptEd? Did you release that?
(12:26:10 PM) HackMew: Somehow, I only released a preview copy on a Pokémon forum.
(12:26:28 PM) Malin: Oh I see.
(12:26:43 PM) Malin: I've heard that there is a new version of XSE currently being tested, but how much longer will it be before we see that?
(12:27:03 PM) HackMew: Less than you may think, I guess.
(12:27:35 PM) Malin: Could you give us an idea of some of the new features?
(12:28:49 PM) HackMew: Yeah, sure.
(12:33:05 PM) HackMew: First of all I've improved all frequent taks such as compiling/degugging, loading files and so on. Those were fast enough already, you may say. True, but when things work, why not make them work faster?
(12:33:45 PM) Malin: I agree, anything else?
(12:36:14 PM) HackMew: Second, I did a large amount of bug fixes. Finally come the new features. For example there's the ROM Resizer, which will let you expand or shrink it back any ROMs. Of course, XSE will be fully compatible with expanded ROMs.
(12:39:35 PM) HackMew: For those who use the Hex Viewer, they will be probably happy to see it features a bran new scrollbar.
(12:39:35 PM) HackMew: Multiple comments are supported too, namely ' ; //
(12:39:35 PM) HackMew: While closing XSE with unsaved scripts and multiple tabs, now there's a new prompt which can handle not just Yes, No and Cancel but Yes to All and Not to All as well.
(12:39:35 PM) HackMew: The File menu got a little addition: Print. Though it was already there but commented out since early betas, I decided to re-enable it to its full glory.
(12:39:35 PM) HackMew: Under the Options menu instead, there's the Decompile Options submenu now.
(12:45:27 PM) HackMew: What does it mean? Basically that you can choose between 3 different decompile modes and 3 differents comments to use while decompiling.
(12:45:42 PM) HackMew: The 3 modes are Enhanced, Normal, and Strict.
(12:46:06 PM) HackMew: Normal is enabled by default and it's just the same as any XSE user is used to when decompiling.
(12:47:06 PM) HackMew: The Enhanced one will go one step futher. That it, it will retrieve more extra information.
(12:48:01 PM) HackMew: A simple giveitem script, with Enhanced mode on would look like this:

#org 0x800000

giveitem ITEM_POTION 0x1 MSG_FOUND

end
(12:48:23 PM) HackMew: Same would happen for givepokemon and many others.
(12:49:54 PM) HackMew: What about strict mode? More or less the opposite, since it's just the Normal one with any comments stripped out.
(12:52:07 PM) HackMew: The file association got a nice addition: now you can associate (or deassociate) your .gba files with XSE at any time. When associated, a "Open with XSE" would appear when right-clicking your .gba files.
(12:53:47 PM) HackMew: And there's a good news for all non-admin people or Vista users with UAC on: file association does not require admin right any more.
(12:57:20 PM) HackMew: The Text Adjuster got improved too. Now you can throw in any text to get it adjusted in no time. Now supports re-adjusting too. Which means you can easily edit your own text by simply pressing Shift+Ctrl+A.
(12:58:18 PM) HackMew: Shift+Ctrl+F is another new shortcut which will open the folder of the current loaded script/ROM.
(12:58:51 PM) HackMew: A full list of those shortcuts and much more will be shown in the updated guide.
(12:59:41 PM) HackMew: There are two little progress bars now. The first will eventually appear in the status bar while you compile or debug a script.
(1:00:19 PM) HackMew: The second one will be activated once you open the Find and Replace dialog to use the Replace All function.
(1:02:06 PM) HackMew: While compiling there will be some extra checks now.
(1:02:21 PM) HackMew: Too less or too much parameters, and invalid command.
(1:02:46 PM) HackMew: If you're wondering about the second one, think about compiling a textcolor command into a Ruby ROM.
(1:03:18 PM) HackMew: That commands exists on Fire Red but not on Ruby, indeed.
(1:04:11 PM) HackMew: So it would produce no effect in-game. No need to compile it then.
(1:06:14 PM) HackMew: And there's the Inline Command Help now.

As soon as you type a command, a construct or a directive, a little tooltip will appear telling you what params are needed.
(1:07:34 PM) HackMew: The tooltip will disappear after a short time, unless you press Esc, Enter or you mouse click somewhere. If you really want, you can even turn it off permanently, using the Options menu.
(1:07:59 PM) HackMew: Last but not the least, there's an auto update checking feature.
(1:10:45 PM) HackMew: As soon as you start XSE, it will checks for updates. If some updates are found, the updated window will be shown letting you download and updated your own copy. Otherwhise nothing will happen. Even this can be turned off and back on if someone likes to.
(1:11:59 PM) HackMew: We can say those are the main improvements/features introduced so far.
(1:13:06 PM) Malin: Wow, that sounds great! All those features sound very useful.
(1:13:30 PM) HackMew: Hehe, nice to hear that.
(1:14:23 PM) Malin: Within that list of tools that XSE came from, some of them have come into fruition since your poll ended. Will all those tools still be made after the completion of XSE.
(1:14:31 PM) HackMew: Yep, my answer is yes.
(1:15:06 PM) HackMew: I planned to make them and I will make them, someday.
(1:16:11 PM) HackMew: Oh, yeah... back to XSE for a bit, I forgot to say there's even a French translation available.
(1:21:03 PM) Malin: You had your own hack, Oro Sole. With Shiny Gold nearing it's end do you see any reason in continuing your own Gold Remake?
(1:22:32 PM) HackMew: I don't see much point in not continuing my project just because there's ShinyGold. After all, when I started it, ShinyGold wasn't even posted. I do it for fun with the goal of top quality in my mind, and that's it. I don't care if it's not in the first page or if it's not famous enough. If people will like it, good. Otherwhise I'll go ahead anyway.
(1:23:44 PM) Malin: Are you still working on it now, even though the thread is closed?
(1:25:37 PM) HackMew: Not at the moment. My priority is still focused on XSE. But I already planning something.
(1:26:05 PM) Malin: Have you ever tried to hack any other games, other than Pokemon?
(1:29:53 PM) HackMew: Yes, but no ROMs.
(1:30:28 PM) Malin: Oh? Such as?
(1:32:17 PM) HackMew: Uhm, quite a lot. Can't remember all of them right now XD

But even removing an intro video was hacking for me.
(1:32:40 PM) Malin: I see.
(1:32:41 PM) Malin: If there was something you could change about the way hacking is today what would it be?
(1:33:02 PM) HackMew: Quite a lot.
(1:33:45 PM) HackMew: Most people today have great ambitons but almost no knowledge.
(1:34:33 PM) HackMew: It's like as soon they learn mapping and how to edit texts they want to release something.
(1:35:06 PM) HackMew: A sadly truth, but luckily there are still some good hackers out here.
(1:36:00 PM) HackMew: I can't really understand all those people demanding custom scripts.
(1:36:51 PM) HackMew: Or those who don't read tutorials, for example.
(1:37:28 PM) HackMew: If you want to learn, you need to mess around with tools and ROMs. Trials and errors, and everyday you'll learn something new.
(1:38:05 PM) HackMew: Instead, it seems most people are even scared by trying something.
(1:39:27 PM) HackMew: So they ask - or better, demand - for help.
(1:40:57 PM) HackMew: While it may seems the easy way, it's not always the best.
(1:41:10 PM) HackMew: What if no one answers?
(1:41:56 PM) HackMew: You need to rely on yourself. And then on the other hackers.
(1:41:56 PM) HackMew: If you have no idea what a "compare" command does, you shouldn't use it and the complain your script doesn't work.
(1:49:14 PM) HackMew: You asked me what I would change in the way of hacking. The way of hacking, though is strictly related to hackers. Till hackers are the same, their hacking way will be the same.
(1:50:29 PM) HackMew: Needless to say I was talking in general. No offense intended.
(1:50:44 PM) Malin: Before we wrap things up, is there a hack you'd like to recommend?
(1:52:56 PM) HackMew: I think I just can't because I'm not used to look at the many hacks posted in the showcase.
(1:53:45 PM) Malin: Thats fine, anything else you'd like to say before we finish?
(1:55:57 PM) HackMew: Happy hacking to you all. Expect a brand new XSE soon!
(1:56:38 PM) Malin: Ok, thanks for the interview HackMew.
(1:56:44 PM) HackMew: You're welcome.
Interview by dshayabusa



Closing Notes
Some house keeping

With my luck, zel will have posted the HOTW winner when I log out. I might edit this issue and put it in but don't hold me to it. Keep your ideas coming in! We love hearing all your comments too. Remember this newsletter is for the community and its only because of your support that we keep doing this.
Closing by dshayabusa
CSS design and graphics by dshayabusa. Ask for permission if you want to use them!

Neti October 12th, 2008 3:15 AM

im baack from my vacation, i think in the next issue there will be the map review ssection :)
good work on the two you did while i was away
and the last one was a really long interview^^
but the sad truth is true, more ppl start requesting stuff they could learn and do on their own instead of trying stuffuntil it works... if theres only one error they go ask someone
folks you need to put a lot of afford and time into learning hacking

Argent Crusader October 12th, 2008 4:42 AM

Excellent! I really liked this release. The interview was really entertaining! HackMew is one of the best people here in the hacking scene, a perfect candidate for a interview like this.
Also I agree with the whole bad quality hackers thing. That should change...
I really like your newsletter dshayabusa, I hope we get a new issue soon :D

destinedjagold October 12th, 2008 5:37 AM

................
well, the new newsletter is great.
thethethethe and Hackmew, by their speech, are very true these days...
Visual's thought about ROM bases as well...

anyways, I enjoyed, and felt a bit frustrated about the newsletter, for it really shows the current situation... :\

oh well, as always, do keep up the great work~

Tyrantrum October 12th, 2008 9:37 AM

I feel bad for Seth AND me. :[
I work for Mistic Dreams, and the mapping part..is my fault. I'm not good at caves, and I didn't want to edit the first town too much...

Anyways, the overall news letter was good, though I didn't read everything! xD
I might come back to it later, since I have just woken up.

.Seth October 12th, 2008 1:38 PM

I completely understand the problems, thethethethe. But, whoever said the events have to happen as soon as the game starts? I mean, since when was that rule around?

On another note, I'd be glad to add color to the scripts, but it was rather rushed. I know nobody likes to see their hack get a poor review, but that, honestly, was just harsh.

And, actually, I'm working on the graphics of the game right now. As in, the titlescreen, tiles...etc.
And, so what if I reused old, useless scripts? They're there for the taking, gosh.
Oh, and by the way, that storyline in the thread is the BACKGROUND STORY!!

Background story - Story that will happen sometime in the hack, but not right away. Events will lead up to the events in the background story.

What actually happens - All the events, including the ones Before and After the Background story.

There's a difference!

I also noticed that you only pointed out the bad things of my hack. And, let's see... if my hack got a 2.8, then there must be some good things about it, no? I'd like you to kindly tell me exactly What those good things are.

TB Pro October 12th, 2008 2:26 PM

Hmm...This was a good issue. Hmm...I can't say I agree totally with the review this week, but who am I so say anything ;) Visual's article is exactly right, and that is sad. I remember when there was five or six hacks in the showcase. They were all good/average hacks as well. Now, there is ten to fifteen hacks, and the majority of them are rubbish. Not all of them, some have some potential. The tips and tricks section was nice, I can't wait for the second part ;) This weeks interview was one of the best so far. A nice, long interview with a great hacker. I completely agree with everything Hackmew had to say, the community is going downhill, in a hurry. If there was only a way to get the community out of this hole it's in at the current time. I noticed a few places, where, Hackmew's name wasn't in green :P Nothing major, just thought I'd point it out for you ;) This was another great issue, keep it up! BOL!

thethethethe October 12th, 2008 9:59 PM

Your quote was too long joined with this post, but I might as well try and justify what I said here.

Well by 'release 3', your words not mine, I'd be expecting some inkling of some nature of the storyline. My old hack, Legend of Dragons had probably only a little bit more gameplay wise done than yours but it at least mentioned Rayquaza, which was something that was to be apart of the main plot line later in the game.

I couldn't care about the graphics honestly. Mapping is so easily changed so I don't mention very much about it. The titlescreen, tiles didn't get mentioned because I assumed they would be changed at some stage. So I don't understand why you mention those graphics.

Whether the story in your thread is a Background Story, as you call it, is redundant. There's nothing in your third preview to the game to say 'Look at Me'. Nothing to draw me in to watch the hack and play me next time. No idea on what's happening next.

But instead there was a mention of an elder being in a house. In that house was the class from Viridian City. What's the point in that? All you had to do was maybe add in the first elder's script, and maybe include some mention of the GS ball. I don't want to be half way through a hack, and then the main plot (or even a sub plot) begins.

And, if you're whole hack is just talking scripts with nothing important except for a starter Pokemon, WHY RELEASE ANYTHING? Being rushed is no excuse. You decide when you release your hack. Not other people on forums. If you don't think it'll be ready by a time you mentioned, post in the thread saying it won't be ready be then. People won't care as long as they get the preview at some stage.

All this hack reminded me of, was my first hack that no-one bar one or two people ever saw. I felt this release felt a bit pre-mature and should have been released later. You want to hear the good things? Or the mediocre things that lifted it? Honestly, only judging from that gameplay, there wasn't anything that was really all that great. Just things that were okay.

But here's the good things I can say about this hack so far.
-It was better than the couple of hacks I played just before I played through this one
-There's a large amount of room for improvement.
There's only a tiny bit done, and there's so much more to add to it. I can only rate what I see. I can't see what's happening on your computer with it. I only rated this on demo 3.

I honestly, don't want to put you down and make you quit the hack because I gave you a bad review. Maybe it's just the way I am, and if someone tells me I'm crap at something I normally try to improve and get better. Maybe I'm just hoping everyone's like me, but I hope you keep working on this, just to prove that this was just a poor rating on my behalf and prove it was worth more.

/Circa October 13th, 2008 1:54 AM

Haha, I was reading the interview, did you get a bit bored there dshayabusa? With HackMew going on about all the new features, which I cant wait to see :D!

.Iramet October 13th, 2008 5:31 AM

I just started reading the newsletters recently and have to say they are great!
ALthough I do feel bad for seth because the hack wasn't really that far along and I don't think he was ready for a review...

hi sir tomato my password is syvniti October 13th, 2008 9:24 AM

This version could have been a lot better....
"(1:13:30 PM) HackMew" Why was hackmews's name not written with green?

Zeikku™ October 13th, 2008 10:31 AM

could I review a hack next week?
this is actually amazing! :D

+Sneasel™ October 13th, 2008 4:32 PM

Great job guys!
A great issue, and a great tips and tricks section (FINALLY!)
Well, I don't get why everyone is saying that the review was a little 'harsh'. He just rated it based on his opinion, nothing harsh about it...you can't get mad at the critic...
Lastly, you messed up, it says he got a 2.8 in the big blue thing, but in the hack description it says he got a .4/10...

Thrace October 13th, 2008 9:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Visual (Post 4029996)
Haha, I was reading the interview, did you get a bit bored there dshayabusa? With HackMew going on about all the new features, which I cant wait to see :D!

Err, I might've gotten a bit impatient. XD

Quote:

Originally Posted by emoakt (Post 4030234)
I just started reading the newsletters recently and have to say they are great!
ALthough I do feel bad for seth because the hack wasn't really that far along and I don't think he was ready for a review...

He isn't ready for a review after 3 demos?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabe_c (Post 4030756)
This version could have been a lot better....
"(1:13:30 PM) HackMew" Why was hackmews's name not written with green?

Oh, hey you're unbanned.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pounder_Zeikku (Post 4030929)
could I review a hack next week?
this is actually amazing! :D

You'll have to apply in the team thread. I think there might be enough already since we are only doing 1 review each week.

Quote:

Originally Posted by itman1234 (Post 4032072)
Great job guys!
A great issue, and a great tips and tricks section (FINALLY!)
Well, I don't get why everyone is saying that the review was a little 'harsh'. He just rated it based on his opinion, nothing harsh about it...you can't get mad at the critic...
Lastly, you messed up, it says he got a 2.8 in the big blue thing, but in the hack description it says he got a .4/10...

Grr!! I always seem to make some mistake in the rating. >=(

Surf October 14th, 2008 2:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dshayabusa (Post 4032710)
Err, I might've gotten a bit impatient. XD


He isn't ready for a review after 3 demos?


Seth wasn't ready because the demos were only intended to be a short look at the game and he wasn't even up to a beta

Ninja Caterpie October 14th, 2008 2:52 AM

Then why give THREE? I see dshayabusa's point 100%.
I mean, why be so impatient to release something? I mean, I'd find it fine for them to have one small demo and then go a while before a beta, his choice, but THREE sounds like a pretty big thing.

Surf October 14th, 2008 2:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark Lakitu (Post 4033069)
Then why give THREE? I see dshayabusa's point 100%.
I mean, why be so impatient to release something? I mean, I'd find it fine for them to have one small demo and then go a while before a beta, his choice, but THREE sounds like a pretty big thing.

You again have a point
3 demos is bad (but not as bad as the pre alpha i did)
anyway great letter
i think Hackmew wanted to tell all about his new XSE features (which i am looking forward to)

Kaizer-X October 14th, 2008 3:01 AM

Ok ok things are begging to get ugly here. All i can say is CHILL guys! Don't have to get work up over this. Well the review is just about what the reviewer thinks about the hack, i think x4the is expecting more from the hack so... anyways use this criticism as an inspiration to make you hack better. Good luck with it. :)

Lady Berlitz October 14th, 2008 3:52 PM

Yeah, this is the opinion of one person only. Although some other people might think the same as the person who is reviewing it, the person reviewing it is the only person who is pointing it out.

Although I completely agree with thethethethe's reasoning, I don't see the point why we should start an argument.

Also, what's this about thethethethe interviewing me?

EarthsVisitor October 15th, 2008 2:42 PM

The interview was interesting this week.
I felt like the newsletter was missing something this week, but it was still good.

I think the "essay" by Visual was nice, but not the best way of doing something like that.

I was thinking more of a "question" every week, and you asked maybe 6-10 people what they thought about a certain topic, or issue in Rom Hacking. Or a general question like, "What's your views on blah blah?"
Maybe a paragraph answer from each person, and you put 5 of them in the newsletter.

Thrace October 16th, 2008 1:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EarthsVisitor (Post 4037218)
The interview was interesting this week.
I felt like the newsletter was missing something this week, but it was still good.

I think the "essay" by Visual was nice, but not the best way of doing something like that.

I was thinking more of a "question" every week, and you asked maybe 6-10 people what they thought about a certain topic, or issue in Rom Hacking. Or a general question like, "What's your views on blah blah?"
Maybe a paragraph answer from each person, and you put 5 of them in the newsletter.

Thats a great idea EarthsVisitor. Although I have some doubts on whether this will become permanent (namely issues on reliability), this is a great alternative to the debate idea for now. We'll have a trial run next issue with members of the team.

BTW you'll see you're Beginner's Corner idea in next weeks issue too. :D

hi sir tomato my password is syvniti October 17th, 2008 2:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark Lakitu (Post 4033069)
Then why give THREE? I see dshayabusa's point 100%.
I mean, why be so impatient to release something? I mean, I'd find it fine for them to have one small demo and then go a while before a beta, his choice, but THREE sounds like a pretty big thing.

I find it dumb, to count progses in game in demos...

Would Shiny Gold then have 29 betas, just because they're translated to differnet langueses?!

Neti October 17th, 2008 4:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabe_c (Post 4040996)
I find it dumb, to count progses in game in demos...

Would Shiny Gold then have 29 betas, just because they're translated to differnet langueses?!

i disagree with you, a new beta should contain new features and bugfixes
why should someone release something new without any changes or just minor ones?
and you shouldnt release stuff to early, for my hack ive only planned 2 betas before the full release

but i think this is kinda offtopic, we should stop arguing about the review and accept it
aven if its not appropriate (i cant tell, i didnt play the demo), the review is just thex4's opinion, and where i live everybodys free to tell people his opinion

EarthsVisitor October 17th, 2008 8:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dshayabusa (Post 4038363)
Thats a great idea EarthsVisitor. Although I have some doubts on whether this will become permanent (namely issues on reliability), this is a great alternative to the debate idea for now. We'll have a trial run next issue with members of the team.

BTW you'll see you're Beginner's Corner idea in next weeks issue too. :D

The Question of the Week does not have to be limited to "debate" issues and problems of Rom Hacking, heck, it could be something as simple as "Who is your favorite hacker?" "What's your favorite hacking tool?" "How do you balance Hacking and other stuff." "What was your experience when you first started?"

:]
- EarthsVIsitor

Lady Berlitz October 18th, 2008 6:23 AM

If the ROM Hacking Newsletter were to have a Question of the Week, I would say this:
What do you think about the Emerald ROM being unstable?

There are a lot of questions regarding it for a lot of hackers out there.

destinedjagold October 18th, 2008 7:15 AM

Question of the Week sounds cool to have with the Newsletter though... :)
and I think the beginner's section/corner sounds cool as well.

anyways, wishing ye for the best of luck with the Newsletter! ;)

Thrace October 19th, 2008 3:47 AM

Rom Hacking Newsletter
Issue 8 - Sunday, 19 October 2008
Introduction
Opening words

Errr, its late. And I kinda ran out of time for this so my segments won't be up to scratch. There will also be no reviews this week. Its totally my fault, I knew I would have trouble getting this weeks issue in on time. I should've asked someone else to do it for me. To make up for it, I'll be doing two HOTW reviews and two hack reviews next week.

Enjoy the rest of issue though. We've got a great article by Kawaii. Ten points if you spot a spelling error. An interview with Esmas/Infernal Contraption/Keyris/Keyrin, an all new segment called "Question of the Week" and our first ever map review courtesy of Neti.
Article by dshayabusa




Hacking News
Staying current with the rom hacking scene

The Ultimate TileMap Editor

Darthatron has made a thread to get ideas for the ultimate tilemap editor. If you have any suggestions go reply in his thread here.

Map of the Week
Wind~ has started a new topic for people to vote on the top Map each week in the Map Rating Thread. RHN will start a new segment on this. Be sure to check it out and cast your vote here.

Hack Rating System
RHN will now follow a standardised rating system similar to that of IGN, ratings and their meanings are described below.
Spoiler:
10.0 to 9.0 - Masterful
Its almost impossible to make a hack that is perfect, but ratings in this range get pretty close. These hacks are flawless in all aspects of hacking, they are innovative and engaging.

8.9 to 8.0 - Impressive
Hacks that we feel are outstanding and are exceptional in at least one aspect will receive ratings in this range. Hacks that we feel are worthwhile and that everyone will find enjoyable. You'd need to put in a lot of effort to get this rating.

7.9 to 7.0 - Good
An excellent hack that is let down by a one or two major problems. Above average in all aspects but just missing a few things it needs to be great. Not amazing but has potential.

6.9 to 6.0 - Passable
Hacks that are just above average. Nothing to really get excited about. Nothing particularly horrible about the hack but nothing all that great either.

5.9 to 5.0 - Mediocre
A hack that provokes no emotion, standard, run-of-the-mill whatever you want to call it, these hacks are as average as they come.

4.9 to 4.0 - Lackluster
Hacks that do not have enough effort put into them. Probably not worth the attention for the time being. Has some potential to be better, but not enough to become something spectacular.

3.9 to 3.0 - Poor
Hacks that are flawed in all areas, most likely caused by inexperience by the author rather than effort. Not worth checking out regularly, will probably be cancelled the next week.

2.9 to 2.0 - Bad
Hacks that we recommend you avoid, not worth playing. Might have a few interesting ideas but ultimately is just very poorly executed. Major flaws in all aspects.

1.9 to 1.0 - Terrible
A hack we believe should not have had its thread accepted. These hacks are not even worth browsing over. These hacks are usually made by people trying to achieve internet stardom.

0.9 to 0.0 - Abysmal
Hacks that are not even truly hacks, more like edits. A few small changes to the original game, achievable in mere minutes.



Question of the Week
Same question, different oppinions

"Re-using scripts from the original game"

Ripper
To be honest, as long as the scripts are used appropriately, I'm not too bothered. There are plenty of decent scripts within both FRLg and RSE and as long as new, original scripts are also in the game I don't see it as much of a problem. Although it it frustrating to see mention of non existent events/locations which are so obviously not original.

Kawaii, Inc.
I think re-using any script should be avoided at all costs. You can't better yourself by copy & pasting. A prime example is the old man script from Veridian City. The script gets used in many low quality hacks constantly. Even if the text is changed, the script is still easily spotted.

thethethethe
I'm not a fan of it. I mean, scripting in the Advance Generation games is almost compulsory nowadays and talking scripts are so simple. You only need to write like 6-7 lines of a script for a simple talking event, and once you've written one all you need to do is edit the text from there on. It's not like it's asking for some amazing ASM feature.



Map Review
Maps in review

Map Name: (Dont know, awaiting reply from Satoshi Sugimori)
Creator: Satoshi Sugimori
Game: FireRed (edited)
Rating: 8.7/10
Mapshot: http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p.../starttown.png

When i first looked at this map I was wondering how it could win the "Map of the Week"-Award, becuase I was turned off by its palettes. But Palettes should not get into the Map-Rating, so I had a closer look at it and saw really neat details that I had not seen on a map before.

Regarding the number of houses and the quite atmosphere, I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be a starter Town. Therefor it's kinda big, but I like that fact and it is necessary to create that nice shape with the different mountain levels and the river. The river, by the way, is my favourite detail of this map. The fact that makes it so stunning is that it follows exactly the path of the mountains, what most people would call unnatural. But when looking at a map you always have to imagine it being a real place and you are in it. Now imagine you are standing on the bridge at the right and look down the river to the right: What a nice view!
But still you have some tile Errors at certain edges, I know theyre hard to fix (I experienced that my self), because there is no tile for that and you cant create one with just the block editor.

But the river also causes some logical problems:
1. Where does all the Water come from? I dont see no source.
2. Where does the water end up at the part behind the house in the bottom left? The Waterfall there brings more and more water down there, but the pond is not getting bigger...

Lets get away from the river and take a look at some other things, for example the mountains:
Overall theyre in a good shape, even though you could have rounded them a bit more at some places.
Aother thingg I dislike about them is the part with the waterfall at the left, it's very symetrical.
The trees give the map a nice shape, but why did you place them in rows? I can see taht you have tiles to create diagonal rows of trees, so why didnt you use them at the borders?
Anyway, you used a good mixture of small and big trees, what gives a more natural feeling to the map as well.
Also, If you on the tile before thee small tree right of the lab, you will see a border error.
The amount of flowers is correct as well I think, but you could have spread them a bit more all over the map instead of just placing them at the borders of the path.
But what happened to the rocks? Even though you dont need a lot of them in a town like that, you should have placed 1 or two at least to make it look better. You could have added some to the bottom center area with it which appears a bit empty to me.

Thats it about the natural things, but what about the paths and fences?
The paths are placed good, I have nothing to complain about there. They are not straight and end at some places which looks neat.
There is not mcuh to say about the fence, it just looks good, except fo one thing: There is a tile error left of where the fence goes between two trees.

That's it, all those things I marked out as good things create a very natural feeling, whats the biggest plus of this map and the reason why I chose it.
Take the things I critisized as pieces of advice and work on them.

P.S.: From now on there will always be the "Map of the Week" Winner reviewed. So dont send me maps anymore.
Article by Neti




Grammatical Hacking:
A Public Service Announcement
The Rom Hacking scene in perspective

As a few of you know, I have a pet peeve. My pet peeve is improper grammar usage, and I'm sure I'm not alone. In fact, I know I'm not alone. For example, look at the more popular hacks in the "Hacks Showcase". Hacks such as Shiny Gold, Genesis, and Rescue Rangers contain very few (if any) grammatical mistakes. There are quite a few hacks, on the other hand, that use "Internet jargon" in hacks and seem popular, having five or six pages. These hacks tend to be lower quality, and do bad in any other category classifiable to a hack. In fact, if you take the time to look at these threads (which I wouldn't recommend), many of the comments are criticism.

There is an exception to the rule of bad grammar=bad hack. Spanish translated hacks, or foreign hacks in general, are prime examples. In many cases, you'll see a hack in Spanish and think it looks great (mainly because of the graphics)! Then, the game gets translated, which excites you because now, you'll know what's happening during the story. When you finally get the chance to play it, you find the grammar and word usage is atrocious and you can't understand what's happening at all! I feel sorry for the original creators of these hacks. In most cases, they're approached by someone claiming, "I can translate that for you, if you want!" and it sounds like a great idea. Then the "translator" (and I use that word loosely) plugs the scripts into BabelFish or GoogleTranslate and copy & pastes away. You'd think the "translator" would at least have the common courtesy to edit a few words to make it sensical English, but this isn't usually the case. ҳ̸ҲRichie's "Never Black & White" is the only example I can think of where the translation is literate (I suggest you all take a look at his thread). In any case, even when playing translated hacks, grammar is important.

Now, onto my address to you readers. I'm sure I'm not the only one that is annoyed by grammar mistakes. In fact, I know I'm not the only one. Deokishisu's thread, "The Ultimate Turnoff-What You Don't Want to See in a Hack" features grammar as #1 in his list, a list made from the responses of you who replied to his thread (even though he stated the list is in no particular order, I'm trying to stress a point). Voice your opinions, people! Tell the creators of such nonsensical hacks how you feel. In fact, don't tell them! Don't say anything at all! Many of the culprits of bad grammar are only hacking for the recognition. Don't let them have the satisfaction of a thread with many comments and views. Maybe then, they'll get it in their head that grammar is important. So, tell us what you think about grammar in a hack! Is it a big deal to you? Will you take my advice in denying the satisfaction of a popular thread? If so, spread the word!
Article by Kawaii, Inc.



Tips and Tricks
A cool new trick that you may not have known about

We'll be carrying on from last weeks issue. I made a bit of a mistake in it. You weren't supposed to do the tiling yet. Theres still a bit more to do before.

Palletes
Spoiler:
Before we proceed with tiling the different tilemaps we need to work out which palletes are going to be used by which pallete. There are 16 in total but unfortunately we can only use 3 of them. The ones you can use are shown below.
The bottom two are used for the same thing. They produce the blinking effect of the Press Start. We will be dedicating pallete 16 and 15 to the background, 13 to Giratina and 14 to Arceus/Press Start/Copyright. You'll need to organise the palletes as such.

Tiling
Spoiler:
Now that we've got the hardest part out of the way we can get to work on the most boring part. Load up your favourite TileMap editor. Tiling the background and the Pokemon Logo to your liking. For the Giratina/Arceus/Press Start tile map you need to be careful. When you are tiling Arceus/Press Start you're pallete must be set to 14 and when you are tiling Giratina it must be set to 13.

Inserting
Spoiler:
Save all your TileMaps and load UNLZ. Find the tile maps you are replacing and insert the images and the tilemaps. Make sure to repoint them, they will almost definitely be too big. You're end result should look like this:

Tip donated by dshayabusa



Interview
An in-depth chat with...
Spoiler:
(12:02:46 AM) thethethethe: Ok, so we'll get started now.
(12:02:53 AM) Russell: Alright.
(12:03:23 AM) thethethethe: I guess we should start with, How did you get into hacking?
(12:04:33 AM) Russell: I got into hacking by just liking Pokémon at first. I was just looking up random stuff on YouTube, and then I saw ShinyGold. Later, I saw a "how to download ShinyGold" tutorial, thanks to foullump. I noticed one of the links were PokéCommunity.
(12:05:08 AM) thethethethe: And then did curiosity just take over from there?
(12:05:49 AM) Russell: Yes, later I noticed that there were more hacks. But, before that, I had started spriting in the Pokémon Crater Forums, which got me into Pokémon.
(12:07:37 AM) thethethethe: In my time at PC, I've seen you as quite a talented sprite, but what do you find the simplest aspect of hacking?
(12:09:31 AM) Russell: Oddly, I haven't done much at hacking for the past 2 years or so I've been ROM hacking. Actually, I just learned to simply insert a script. I'm going to have to say either palette editing or mapping.
(12:10:51 AM) thethethethe: If you haven't done too much in hacking for the past two years, how long ago did you start?
(12:11:26 AM) Russell: Well... about two and a half years ago.
(12:13:40 AM) thethethethe: I've only been at PC for about a year now, and in that time you've had quite a few hacks from Burning Crystal to Pokemon Glacier. Is there any reason why you seem to have a hard time sticking to one idea?
(12:15:54 AM) Russell: I really don't know, I just have a need to make new stories and sprites for miscellaneous things. Pokémon Peridot was my best hack in my opinion, and my idea to make it into a game failed. My latest hack is Pokémon DarkRed, though, and I plan to stick with it.
(12:18:08 AM) thethethethe: I'm not 100% sure about this, but I heard that your actually only 13. Is that true?
(12:18:46 AM) Russell: Yes, I'm 13.
(12:18:57 AM) thethethethe: Okay.
(12:20:16 AM) thethethethe: Well a couple of weeks ago in the RHN interview with Darthatron we talked about the age hackers today, and the somewhat lack of maturity found at Pokemon hacking forums. What are your thoughts on that subject?
(12:20:56 AM) Russell: I'm not sure I understand what you mean by maturity in Pokémon hacking forums...
(12:27:14 AM) thethethethe: In the context of a Pokemon forum, I kind of see maturity as being able to at least try anything. To not be starting a hack then quitting because they couldn't find someone to script for them or hackers complaining that their hack's thread doesn't have a billion posts in it.
(12:29:00 AM) thethethethe: Maybe I should rephrase my question. Do you think that the age of a hacker means much?
(12:31:09 AM) Russell: Well, I don't find it does. Most often a hacker that is quite a lot older than me can do this as well. But sometimes a hacker who is older has more wisdom with this subject.
(12:31:33 AM) Russell: It also depends how long they've been hacking, so they understand the concept of being a "noob".
(12:33:21 AM) thethethethe: Well, you've tried both game making and hacking. Do these have any similiarities?
(12:35:14 AM) Russell: In my opinion, because I've been ROM hacking for longer, I find game making gives a wide range of capability of making the game, but since I have no knowledge of doing this, I am terrible at it.
(12:36:09 AM) Russell: But, hacking gives everything by default, and you can stretch it so it looks a lot better to the eye. I also enjoy ROM hacking because it is an actual game, so everything is the same as if you were playing it on a GBA.
(12:36:55 AM) thethethethe: So do you find hacking easier than game making?
(12:37:29 AM) Russell: Yes. I am a lot more used to it, and there are tools already given to me.
(12:39:32 AM) thethethethe: Well you've mentioned you've been around hacking for two years, what keeps you around?
(12:40:33 AM) Russell: Well, if I haven't been ROM hacking for the past two years, I would have lost my interest in Pokémon long ago. It's also the most enjoyable thing I have to do.
(12:50:18 AM) thethethethe: Hacking can be frustrating at times. Is there anything that you actually dislike about hacking?
(12:52:23 AM) Russell: I dislike the fact that some ROMs are incapable of some things, such as changing the font of the in-game text. I also dislike changing title screens and animations, as they are quite difficult.
(12:53:07 AM) Russell: I may also have some difficulty with some areas of changing tilesets, because if I want to change a certain aspect, I have to assume this tile is this, etc.
(12:54:36 AM) thethethethe: Of all the hackers in your time hacking, is there anyone that you, sort of, look up to?
(12:56:29 AM) Russell: At first I always looked up to people like zel.
Now, I look up to most people who provide useful tutorials and essentials documents, such as HackMew, LU-HO, etc.
(12:57:17 AM) thethethethe: Have you ever tried to hack a ROM other than Pokemon?
(12:58:28 AM) Russell: Yes, actually. I've once thought of hacking a random Mario game, but my lack of hex editing knowledge abandoned that idea. I'm currently working on hacking Mega Man 2.
(12:59:57 AM) thethethethe: Well we might wrap this up now. Is there any hack that you would like to recommend?
(1:01:05 AM) Russell: I would say either Pokémon Genesis or Liquid Ocean.
(1:01:47 AM) thethethethe: Both good hacks. Would you like to leave readers with any advice?
(1:02:25 AM) Russell: Sure: Stick with your hacks! XD
(1:02:41 AM) thethethethe: Thanks for the interview Infernal Contraption.

http://i34.tinypic.com/8zegwl.png http://i36.tinypic.com/2luut0y.png
Interview by thethethethe



Closing Notes
Some house keeping

Err, yeah. Next week will be better thats a promise. We'll have a new segment too "Beginner's Corner" (thanks to EarthsVisitor for the idea as well as "Question of the Week").
Closing by dshayabusa
CSS design and graphics by dshayabusa. Ask for permission if you want to use them!

destinedjagold October 19th, 2008 3:59 AM

about the Question of the Week, you should have included the question and then the answers...
at first I thought the question was about the current hacker's style in scripting, and when I read the second, I then knew it was about recycling old script events in the game... :\

well, anyways, I understand that you are busy, so ya don't need to apologize for a short newsletter today. :)

also, the grammar is one of the important things in hacking...
but each of us differ in personality, style, etc, which sometimes conflicts with other's 'correct' way of what grammar should be...
I agree about the translators thingy, but I guess not all are 'copy-pasters'...


as always, best of luck~

hi sir tomato my password is syvniti October 19th, 2008 4:01 AM

To be honnest, this Weeks version was pretty bad, I got confussed at the qustien, I solved the qustien, but first I thought it were "riper", Could you write the qoustien in the top next time?

The interwiuw was nither as good as else?

Tips sound more like a guide`?

Thrace October 19th, 2008 4:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Time (Post 4048640)
about the Question of the Week, you should have included the question and then the answers...
at first I thought the question was about the current hacker's style in scripting, and when I read the second, I then knew it was about recycling old script events in the game... :\

well, anyways, I understand that you are busy, so ya don't need to apologize for a short newsletter today. :)

as always, best of luck~

Thanks for that. Theres probably like 10 more mistakes in there :S

Satoshi Sugimori October 19th, 2008 6:03 AM

Lolz I liked it it was a bit empty (A) but still neat job I couldn't myself do that every week XD And I kinda liked the review of my map :P
And I do agree with the grammar thing because you always need to have neat understandable english in it and no internet slang.. But if you make a few mistakes it isn't so bad nobody is perfect :P

Well BOL!

Blitzballer October 19th, 2008 7:19 AM

I FOUND A FEW GRAMMAR ERRORS!! WHERE'S MY TEN POINTS?

Uh-ohs! The map image is broken!! Anyway, I thought it was funny how you talked about a shorter issue, then went on to describe two new segments and an article. =)
Hopefully people will figure out the fact that you're busy and if there's no review, they'll just have to deal! Myself taking three or so weeks to finally write a decent article is a prime example of busy. Don't worry, you'll see more from me.

Lady Berlitz October 19th, 2008 11:20 AM

I'm not sure about the newsletter this week, it was pretty good.
Too bad you didn't include the "I have to eat breakfast" in the interview. XD

Also, the "Map Review" category's map image does not show up.

Lastly, "palletes" is spelled palettes.

hi sir tomato my password is syvniti October 19th, 2008 11:25 AM

"BAG" is spelled "BG"....

Neti October 19th, 2008 11:25 AM

The Maphsot got removed from photobucket i think
i didnt uplaod it, just copied the image url from a pm i got, and in that pm the image worked

Argent Crusader October 19th, 2008 11:40 AM

Oh, despite the fact that reviews are missing this week, it's very good as always, I like the interview, a good job of thethethethe as usual.
It will be interesting that you look up to some old hacks. Maybe a "Hack Graveyard" section or something.
Also, take a look to the old hacks that aren't stopped ;)

TB Pro October 19th, 2008 3:17 PM

Okay first off, I get ten points. It's Viridian not Veridian. Second, haha, I love how you say it's going to be a short issue, but it's actually just as long, with the two new segments:P I liked the question of the week, it was a great idea! I also agree with MOST of the feelings in that segment. I like the idea of the map review, it's great! Except the missing link... I have to say, I completely agree with Kawaii, the grammer in hacks these days is atrocious, and it needs to be fixed. I mean, how hard is it to spell a word right? If you don't know how to spell it just look it up, there are many online dictionaries at your disposal. Yes, the tips and tricks is finished! Haha, but yes, I'm sure many hackers are pleased about that segment being finished. The interview was pretty good this week as well, I guess that's what to expect from Thethethethe! You don't have to apologize about the newsletter, I understand you are busy, and I'm looking forward to next week's issue! Well, BOL!

Satoshi Sugimori October 19th, 2008 3:20 PM

Well here's the missing link but now a good one don't know why the other one didn't work...
Welll here it is..

thethethethe October 19th, 2008 9:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Infernal Contraption (Post 4050164)
Too bad you didn't include the "I have to eat breakfast" in the interview. XD

Yeah I took that out before I sent it to dshayabusa. :P

Thrace October 20th, 2008 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabe_c (Post 4048643)
To be honnest, this Weeks version was pretty bad, I got confussed at the qustien, I solved the qustien, but first I thought it were "riper", Could you write the qoustien in the top next time?

The interwiuw was nither as good as else?

Tips sound more like a guide`?

I've edited it, I just forgot to write the question in. I have no idea what you're trying to say about the interview. And I don't see whats wrong with the tip.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Infernal Contraption (Post 4050164)
I'm not sure about the newsletter this week, it was pretty good.
Too bad you didn't include the "I have to eat breakfast" in the interview. XD

Also, the "Map Review" category's map image does not show up.

Lastly, "palletes" is spelled palettes.

Oh gawd, I've always written it as "palletes". Ah well, now I know. :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabe_c (Post 4050195)
"BAG" is spelled "BG"....

What?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neti (Post 4050202)
The Maphsot got removed from photobucket i think
i didnt uplaod it, just copied the image url from a pm i got, and in that pm the image worked

Yeah I see what the problem is now, you didn't copy the entire URL.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kike-Scott (Post 4050275)
Oh, despite the fact that reviews are missing this week, it's very good as always, I like the interview, a good job of thethethethe as usual.
It will be interesting that you look up to some old hacks. Maybe a "Hack Graveyard" section or something.
Also, take a look to the old hacks that aren't stopped ;)

I don't really see the point in reporting about hacks that were never completed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Satoshi Sugimori (Post 4050976)
Well here's the missing link but now a good one don't know why the other one didn't work...
Welll here it is..

Thanks, I've fixed it now.

Argent Crusader October 21st, 2008 9:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dshayabusa (Post 4054821)
I don't really see the point in reporting about hacks that were never completed.

If it's that you just can report Quartz and the Ruby Destiny series. I haven't heard of any other completed hack.
Any way, I see usually in Gaming Magazines a section like that, where they report about SNES or NES games.
And, you never know when someone can come back. All hacks with betas are worth reporting, in my humble opinion.

Thrace October 22nd, 2008 1:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kike-Scott (Post 4055695)
If it's that you just can report Quartz and the Ruby Destiny series. I haven't heard of any other completed hack.
Any way, I see usually in Gaming Magazines a section like that, where they report about SNES or NES games.
And, you never know when someone can come back. All hacks with betas are worth reporting, in my humble opinion.

Good point. You may see that in some future issues but I don't think it'll be happening weekly.

Godot October 22nd, 2008 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kike-Scott (Post 4055695)
I haven't heard of any other completed hack.

*coughs* Pokemon Brown *cough*

Unless this is a GBA-only newsletter XD

Lady Berlitz October 22nd, 2008 2:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godot (Post 4058274)
Unless this is a GBA-only newsletter XD

Well, I haven't seen talk of GB or GBC hacks, so I'm assuming it is...

Ripper October 22nd, 2008 4:44 PM

Actually, I think a sort of graveyard would be interesting... But instead of focusing on a hack we could focus on... Whatever Happened To...? And it could be either a promised tool, a once well known hacker or a hack that no longer is in production (BTW if EV comes on, what's going on with that TR game? Has production stopped?) We really should have a sort of scrapbook or ideas in case we decide to increase the newsletter's size.

IIMarckus October 22nd, 2008 4:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Infernal Contraption (Post 4058646)
Well, I haven't seen talk of GB or GBC hacks, so I'm assuming it is...

I assume that’s just because there are fewer out there. Most of the editors probably are unaware of GBC hacking in general as well (aside from thethethethe of course). But more the first part.

EarthsVisitor October 22nd, 2008 5:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ripper (Post 4058952)
Actually, I think a sort of graveyard would be interesting... But instead of focusing on a hack we could focus on... Whatever Happened To...? And it could be either a promised tool, a once well known hacker or a hack that no longer is in production (BTW if EV comes on, what's going on with that TR game? Has production stopped?) We really should have a sort of scrapbook or ideas in case we decide to increase the newsletter's size.

I stopped working on it, and started mapping and creating ideas for a new hack, but I've not really worked on it. Maybe one day I will showcase it, but most likely not.

Ripper October 22nd, 2008 6:43 PM

You might need to slightly edit your banner then :P

We could even have interviews where hackers talk about how they gave up due to pressure, not having enough time etc.

Thrace October 22nd, 2008 8:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Infernal Contraption (Post 4058646)
Well, I haven't seen talk of GB or GBC hacks, so I'm assuming it is...

Where did you get that idea? There was mention of a GBC script editor a while back. This is about Pokemon Rom Hacking in general. It's as IIMarckus says there just happens to be far more GBC hacks than GB ones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ripper (Post 4058952)
Actually, I think a sort of graveyard would be interesting... But instead of focusing on a hack we could focus on... Whatever Happened To...? And it could be either a promised tool, a once well known hacker or a hack that no longer is in production (BTW if EV comes on, what's going on with that TR game? Has production stopped?) We really should have a sort of scrapbook or ideas in case we decide to increase the newsletter's size.

Interviews usually give us that information though don't they? But if ever we run out of segments for RHN that could be an interesting idea.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IIMarckus (Post 4058972)
I assume that’s just because there are fewer out there. Most of the editors probably are unaware of GBC hacking in general as well (aside from thethethethe of course). But more the first part.

Yeah, you're exactly right, thats why I've stayed away from reviewing non-GBA hacks I just wouldn't know how to rate it having never hacked those generations before. I was hoping thethethethe would do one but there doesn't seem to be any new GBC/GB hacks in production at least none that I am aware of. You may see a review of Brown in the near future though.

thethethethe October 22nd, 2008 9:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dshayabusa (Post 4059374)
I was hoping thethethethe would do one but there doesn't seem to be any new GBC/GB hacks in production at least none that I am aware of.

Waiting for a proper Plasma Red alpha/beta... Nobody say there's already one. It only has extremely minor gameplay at this stage.

But I was thinking about the reviewing of past hacks. They would be very hard to review. For example, if I were to go off and review Pokemon Quartz right now, I would probably rate it quite poorly. It's just that they were in a different context of time, where knowledge of hacking certain ROM's could have been much more limited.
To do this we'd need to compare it to hacks that were created in that time frame that the hack appeared in.
I like the idea, I just think it could be quite difficult to actually go through with and do it well.

Ripper October 22nd, 2008 10:23 PM

Fair enough, but aren't there people who just don't appear any more?

As for any GBC hacks, I'd never be able to do one because I'm too much of a graphics freak :P Although Cooley will probably kill me now.

Godot October 23rd, 2008 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dshayabusa (Post 4059374)
there doesn't seem to be any new GBC/GB hacks in production at least none that I am aware of.

Prism isn't dead, you know :P and it's got a hell of a lot of creativity

Ripper October 23rd, 2008 1:33 PM

I think he means those that have started recently (the word 'new'). I'm sure we will eventually do a review of Prism, but it'll have to be by someone who's played it a bit.

Blitzballer October 23rd, 2008 6:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ripper (Post 4060736)
I think he means those that have started recently (the word 'new'). I'm sure we will eventually do a review of Prism, but it'll have to be by someone who's played it a bit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Infernal Contraption (Post 4058646)
Well, I haven't seen talk of GB or GBC hacks, so I'm assuming it is...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godot (Post 4058274)
*coughs* Pokemon Brown *cough*

Unless this is a GBA-only newsletter XD

Assumptions are a terrible idea. We do what we do for a reason, and it's deff. not because we don't know the GBC/GB hacks exist. For a hack like "Pokemon Prism", wouldn't it be a good idea to wait for a major release so we don't end up doing 2 or 3 different reviews on 2 or 3 different occasions?? Just throwing that out there... XD

thethethethe October 23rd, 2008 9:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ripper (Post 4059466)
Fair enough, but aren't there people who just don't appear any more?

You may something related to that soon. ;)
Quote:

Originally Posted by Kawaii, Inc. (Post 4061371)
For a hack like "Pokemon Prism", wouldn't it be a good idea to wait for a major release so we don't end up doing 2 or 3 different reviews on 2 or 3 different occasions?? Just throwing that out there... XD

It's also why I haven't reviewed a hack like Shiny Gold, Genesis, Prism, any DJG hack, etc. Honestly who wants to read about these, we all know they are quite reliable if you want a good game to play through. But I'd rather review a hack few notice. Something that doesn't get a post in it every hour or so. Who knows what you might find in these hacks.
They'll probably still be reviewed some day, but I think they've already got more than enough attention.

Thrace October 26th, 2008 12:05 AM

Rom Hacking Newsletter
Issue 9 - Sunday, 26 October 2008
Introduction
Opening words

I just realised that I haven't given proper credit to people for some of the ideas I've borrowed for RHN. Most of the credit goes to Haruki Hanai (Hiroshi Sotomura), many of the segments that RHN has now were taken from his own newsletter from way back. The interview, tips and tricks, hack reviews and hacking news were all once regular parts of Haruki's newsletter. Thanks also to Martin for his CSS layout which gave inspiration for my own layout. Thanks to EarthsVisitor for the QotW and Beginner's Corner segments and thanks to you for reading our weekly newsletter, you guys are the driving force behind this newsletter. I'd also like to give special thanks to those who have been supporting RHN from the very beginning.

We've got a new segment (that was promised for last week) this week; Beginners Corner. It'll be like a Tips and Tricks for beginners so have a read of it. We've also got QotW if EV logs in where we ask a random group of hackers about hacking. Apart from that, we've got all the usual stuff, RHN sure has gotten big hasn't it?
Article by dshayabusa



Hacking News
Staying current with the rom hacking scene

Darth's Ulitmate TileMap Editor

Darthatron has been working hard on his TileMap Editor to rule all TileMap Editors so I asked him for a little more information about it. He gave a small list of features.
» Ability to save as 8bbp, or 4bbp without having to redraw your tilemap.
» Ability to resize your tilemap without tiles being removed.
» "Palette Editor" mode.
» Export your tilemap as an image.
» Import an image to be converted to a tilemap and a tileset.
» (to be perfected) Bigger-Block selection (like a stamp).

A release should be somewhere around December.

Evolution of Hacking
This is a little late but, Kike-Scott has started a new thread called "Evolution of Hacking" and has sparked a very interesting discussion on the direction hacking is taking today. Take a look and maybe post you're opinions on the subject.

Hack Rating System
RHN will follows a standardised rating system similar to that of IGN, ratings and their meanings are described below.
Spoiler:
10.0 to 9.0 - Masterful
Its almost impossible to make a hack that is perfect, but ratings in this range get pretty close. These hacks are flawless in all aspects of hacking, they are innovative and engaging.

8.9 to 8.0 - Impressive
Hacks that we feel are outstanding and are exceptional in at least one aspect will receive ratings in this range. Hacks that we feel are worthwhile and that everyone will find enjoyable. You'd need to put in a lot of effort to get this rating.

7.9 to 7.0 - Good
An excellent hack that is let down by a one or two major problems. Above average in all aspects but just missing a few things it needs to be great. Not amazing but has potential.

6.9 to 6.0 - Passable
Hacks that are just above average. Nothing to really get excited about. Nothing particularly horrible about the hack but nothing all that great either.

5.9 to 5.0 - Mediocre
A hack that provokes no emotion, standard, run-of-the-mill whatever you want to call it, these hacks are as average as they come.

4.9 to 4.0 - Lackluster
Hacks that do not have enough effort put into them. Probably not worth the attention for the time being. Has some potential to be better, but not enough to become something spectacular.

3.9 to 3.0 - Poor
Hacks that are flawed in all areas, most likely caused by inexperience by the author rather than effort. Not worth checking out regularly, will probably be cancelled the next week.

2.9 to 2.0 - Bad
Hacks that we recommend you avoid, not worth playing. Might have a few interesting ideas but ultimately is just very poorly executed. Major flaws in all aspects.

1.9 to 1.0 - Terrible
A hack we believe should not have had its thread accepted. These hacks are not even worth browsing over. These hacks are usually made by people trying to achieve internet stardom.

0.9 to 0.0 - Abysmal
Hacks that are not even truly hacks, more like edits. A few small changes to the original game, achievable in mere minutes.



Question of the Week
Same Question, Different Opinions

"What is your favorite aspect of hacking, and why?"

Esmas/Infernal Contraption
My favorite aspect of hacking would have to be the flexibility of it. Although considering I know how flexible game making is, ROM hacking is less difficult to change to your likings, in my opinion. I also like how everything, such as a battle system, graphics, menus, etc. are given to you by default. These are also not very difficult to change.

Britney Spears
My favorite aspect of ROM hacking is writing an interesting, rapidly evolving plot. Creating interesting characters and fun twists in the plot is more exciting to me than learning to script or insert tiles. I also enjoy mapping, but often find myself more frustrated than anything when it comes to anything technical. Give me a pen, some paper, and some time, and I assure you I'll enjoy myself.

Virtual Chatot
Oh well, my favorite aspect of hacking would have to be the sense of achievement that you get when you're done adding new tiles, and you are ready to start mapping. Nothing in ROM hacking has ever made me happier than when I pull up my favorite ROM and then just start mapping away. It may seem kind of cliche or "noobish" of me to say so, but hey, the player never actually sees the work done behind the scenes, all they see is what is presented to them.

Hiidoran
I suppose my favorite aspect of ROM hacking would have to be scripting. The logic based thought processes behind scripting are quite entertaining to me. I love having an idea for a dialogue or event and just being able to sit down and really try to script it out. To me, the process of typing up a script is a very creative one, but it is creativity within reason. Creativity within reason is the best kind of creativity
Organised by EarthsVisitor



HOTW Winner
Spotlight on the Hack of the Week

Pokémon Breakdown [Link]
Hack Author: Satoshi Sugimori
Reviewed By: thethethethe

"Pokémon Breakdown" has returned from the grave to win the 33rd unofficial "Hack of the Week". After his short leave, Satoshi Sugimori returned to do something I find quite admirable. He continued his unfinished work that was "Pokémon Breakdown".
To start, I think some palettes need to be changed, or the tiles need to be changed to suit the palettes he has chosen to use. Some tiles appear out of place in their current colour scheme. The 'theme' of the indoor palettes need to match the outdoor palettes. Going from the vibrant original palettes seen indoors to the dull, Autumn-ish colours of the outdoor palettes don't look suitable.
One new sprite is viewable and that sprite needs some changing. The 'new' professor appears as if Professor Oak had some clip art images pasted on his head. Not very appealing at all.
Judging from screenshots, the scripting seems fairly well done, but without a playable release or some videos, that could be quite misleading. That being said, I won't be making any final opinions about this hack.
Article by thethethethe


Pokémon Ruby Dagger Murders [Link]
Hack Author: Britney Spears
Reviewed By: thethethethe

And the winner of Hack of the Week #34 is... Pokémon Ruby Dagger Murders by Britney Spears. With all the planning that is shown, this hack deserved the award.
For the average Pokémon hack it has quite the peculiar storyline of corruption and Ruby Encrusted Murders. I don't think this is like much we've seen before. I'm just hoping is that the gameplay can keep up with its original storyline and will not be lost when going from paper to ROM.
There is something about this hack I don't like to see, and that's where it seems like the 'owner' of only active in mapping. I think that if you want to make a hack, you should have at least general skills of scripting and mapping. Although, even if Britney Spears lacks in scripting ability, he has found himself a good scripter to utilise. With dshayabusa scripting, we can know that the scripting will be something worth looking at.
This is one hack that I'm looking forward to, and I recommend others keep one eye on it as well.
Article by thethethethe


Pokémon Twilight: Road to Dreams [Link]
Hack Author: Kaizer-X
Reviewed By: dshayabusa

Twilight: Road to Dreams is the first hack by Kaizer-X and it looks to be a promising one. This is one of those hacks that is above average in all aspects but not spectacular... yet. It reminds me of when I first started Genesis though much better by comparison. My biggest complaint would have to be the rom base but I know how tempting it is to use a rom base when you first start out and its something that can easily be changed later.
The starters are quite interesting, Cranidos and Shieldon. Both will amp up the difficulty, hopefully not annoyingly so. Unlike most teams, the leader Kaizer-X both maps and scripts. I think its important for the lead developer to be doing most of the work. Otherwise the hack can end up awkward with the mapping being at odds with the scripting. I definitely recommend keeping a close eye on this one, it definitely has potential to become a great and completed hack.
Article by dshayabusa



Hack Review
Hacks in review

Pokémon Genesis [Link]
Hack Author: dshayabusa
Reviewed By: Ripper
Reviewer's Rating: 8.5/10

It’s refreshing to see a hack on the Community that is both imaginative and also fun to play. What Dshayabusa has created with Pokémon Genesis is a very appealing game that is innovative enough to eventually go down as one of the great hacks in Pokémon history.

The plot differs from the traditional Pokémon game in that, although you still journey across the region earning badges and beating up an evil team, the player actually has some (small) relation to the team. This offers an interesting twist as now and again you’ll see a relative of your pop up and it’ll make you think, what’s he up to?

The maps within Genesis are all fairly original, occasionally there’s an oddly square shaped area (I’m looking at you Latim City) but sometime it seems fitting to have generic towns. The tiles have been edited slightly, with some colours being mixed and matched along with the occasional completely new tile such as the huge Latim National Library.

Whenever I first play a hack I try and compare it with an original game, Genesis seems to remind me most of Pokémon Gold and Silver due to the structure the game follows. It seems new and original, but also creates a mysterious atmosphere.

As with all hacks, Genesis has a few bugs, but none that make the game unplayable. The scripts are all new and only occasionally are there errors (grammatical or otherwise), there are even a few scripts that change the game in small ways. Unfortunately, there are one or two possible glitches that prevent further movement within the game unless you cheat or hack the hack.

Another fairly common enhancement hacks are receiving nowadays is the introduction of a few Sinnoh Pokémon. Personally I’ve only come across three or four (all ‘mineral’ Pokémon) but I’m sure in future betas there will be more to catch and train.

If what you’re looking for is an enjoyable, lengthy, original hack then look no further than Pokémon Genesis. It will only get better.
Article by Ripper


Pokémon Shrouded Chaos [Link]
Hack Author: +Sneasel
Reviewed By: Kaizer-X
Reviewer's Rating: 6.5/10

Shrouded Chaos? Gulp! From the title the first thing that comes to my mind is dead bodies and chaos. But I was wrong, there is no bodies to be found but the hack can be describe as chaotic since every trainer you met wants to steal someone else’s Pokemon and Mewtwo wants to kill you for no reason.

The plotlines of the hack are really interesting. A champion trainer turn researcher then decides start a new journey in a new region. I really like the part about the Dark Totodile. It is very original and it captures the players attention as injecting Abra’s DNA into Totodile creates suspense in the game as it is an unknown phenomenon to occur in the Pokemon world.

The scripts, in my opinion are really good; the starting event is a really good way to start the game as it draws the player attention as catching Mewtwo without fighting it is not a simple feat, unless you got a master ball at the start. The other events are also neatly scripted including the event with Skarmory and the trees. Also not forgetting the Nurse Joy event which I found to be hilarious. Imagine Nurse Joy jumping over the counter, funny but creative thinking on that part. Some problems which I see are the few grammars mistakes which spoil some of the scripts and it are hard to understand.

The Overworlds of Mewtwo, Skarmory and Charizard are terrific although Mewtwo may be a little too big. The introduction of the Fakemon also may be the good point of the hack. Although I am not a big fan of Fakemons, I can give a pass to Mechshark and the weird and evil-looking Totodile.

The maps though are not the best that I have seen. Some of the maps are too empty especially the towns and you can’t go into many of the houses which I think are unfinished. The new tree tiles are a nice addition to the hack but I don’t like the grass tiles which look like weeds to me. But some of the maps are really interesting; the first map going to the cave after the town reminds me of a forest in an RPG game on PS1 which I used to play before. (Ah, the good old days)

Overall the beta is short but enjoyable nevertheless. What I would like to see is improvent in areas like mapping. If you are bored or wants to see some quality scripts at work, you should give this hack a try. Hopefully +Sneasel™/itman1234 will continue working on this hack as it has potential.
Article by Kaizer-X



Tips and Tricks
A cool new trick that you may not have known about

Since theres been a push for the use of hex lately I thought it would be appropriate to make this weeks Tip on just that; Hex. Namely finding pointers which is something every hacker should know.

Finding pointers
First of all, what are pointers? Pointers are used in GBA roms to access different different parts of the rom by its address. Another word for address is offset.

So, to find a pointer just rearrange the byte order of the address from the front and at the end is <08> to end that it is a pointer.

So if we had the HEX address (not decimal) 012345 you just reverse the byte order as follows <01> <23> <45> and turn it to <45> <23> <01> <08>(to end, it also helps search to make sure you are only editing a pointer).

For an address like 800456 the pointer is 56 04 80 08 etc. Just play around with it and you will get it. This may not seem like much but this actually a very powerful skill. Addresses are unique, you can use this method to find the pointer to anything. I know what you're thinking, what if theres some random data (like an image) has the EXACT same values as a pointer. Although it is theoretically possible, there is a very small chance. In 5 bytes where each has 256 different possible values there is a 1 in 4294967295 of it happening.
Tip donated by jazz



Interview
An in-depth chat with...
Spoiler:
thethethethe says (11:11 PM):
Well you're a retired hacker, but what originally brought you to hacking?
deepbluemew says (11:12 PM):
Its been such a long time, I was looking around for Pokemon red and blue related stuff back then and I noticed Philip Rueben's amazing PokeMap program. It was fun back then.
deepbluemew says (11:13 PM):
If I remember the time, it was around October 19th 2000.
deepbluemew says (11:13 PM):
8 years and 1 weeks ago.
thethethethe says (11:13 PM):
Long time
deepbluemew says (11:13 PM):
Yeh.
deepbluemew says (11:13 PM):
Back then, there was no huge spam of pokemon tools.
deepbluemew says (11:14 PM):
At that time, I was a complete noob and was always begging for tools and complain about hex editing is being gay, etc. A lesson to you all, that Hex editor is your #1 friend and if you want to get what you want, be patient.
deepbluemew says (11:15 PM):
Everyone is not your slave in stuff.
deepbluemew says (11:16 PM):
That's why most small useful romhacking tools do not hit the scene until mid 2001.
thethethethe says (11:16 PM):
Okay, so how long ago did you quit hacking?
deepbluemew says (11:16 PM):
About 3-4 years ago.
deepbluemew says (11:16 PM):
GBA romhacking is not so much fun as it was for RGBY/GSC.
thethethethe says (11:17 PM):
Why do you say that?
deepbluemew says (11:18 PM):
Because... GBA have far more complex stuff and you know, GSC and RGBY was far more fun to mess around with. Seriously, for the last year or whatever before I quit, I was sturggling so much and it bores the heck out of me for so long.
thethethethe says (11:19 PM):
So was that the reason why you quit?
deepbluemew says (11:19 PM):
Yes. Pretty much.
deepbluemew says (11:20 PM):
It was depressing to try and get what I wanted.
thethethethe says (11:21 PM):
You've been posting a little bit at the forums lately so you would notice this. How much has hacking changed since 2000?
deepbluemew says (11:21 PM):
Alot have changed.
deepbluemew says (11:21 PM):
I have been dealing with many generations of romhacking.
deepbluemew says (11:22 PM):
To be honest, the days of the first and the second was always the best - you know, it was cool.
deepbluemew says (11:23 PM):
As I said earlier, there was only like 2 programs for RGBY at the time I joined romhacking.
deepbluemew says (11:23 PM):
And now there is like....hundreds now....?
deepbluemew says (11:23 PM):
Lol. Back then, there was only about 10 or so programs related to Pokemon romhacking in 2000/2001 days.
deepbluemew says (11:24 PM):
So yeah, alot have changed, and most current romhacks do not impress me nowadays as it was in the past.
deepbluemew says (11:24 PM):
Many things have been overused to death.
thethethethe says (11:24 PM):
Like what?
deepbluemew says (11:25 PM):
Let's say - all of these custom tiles, new Pokemon, and remakes of Johto.
deepbluemew says (11:25 PM):
Seriously, I really like REALLY promising hacks that have good or real similiar feel as the originals - like Coolboyman's romhack series.
deepbluemew says (11:26 PM):
Brown, Prism and Rijonadv.
deepbluemew says (11:26 PM):
Some of the old days romhack was fun but pity it did not last for long such as these by some of the oldest greats back in the days.
thethethethe says (11:27 PM):
Did you ever make a hack or just play around with the ROM?
deepbluemew says (11:27 PM):
I used to work on a romhack.
deepbluemew says (11:30 PM):
It was all started on Feburary 19th 2001. Then I was continue to fool around and keep on releasing and porting over to latest version and stuff like that. It was pretty stupid and lame. An advice to many of you out there - Don't ever think about porting over to newer versions right away unless you know how to import things over fast enough without screwing too much things over. Seriously - when I was dealing with GBA hacks, I was like changed from RS/FRLG/E like five times as it was annoying the hell outta me to get what I am comfortable with or whatever. It was so lame and I rather like RGBY/GSC hacks better to be honest. So yeah. It's just me - its best to go with a version that you are MOST comfortable with, not just following the hype.
thethethethe says (11:32 PM):
You're fairly good with dates. Looking at where hacking is today, where do you think it will be in a years time?
deepbluemew says (11:32 PM):
Well, its probs getting more harder to cope with on romhacking with more generations coming out.
thethethethe says (11:34 PM):
Other than the hacks within the Coolboyman series, are there any current hacks that you like?
deepbluemew says (11:34 PM):
Not really.
deepbluemew says (11:34 PM):
Most of them are kinda.... bad or not that good.
deepbluemew says (11:35 PM):
To those hackers at there, nothing really beats Coolobyman's series.
thethethethe says (11:36 PM):
Being out of hacking for so long, do you ever feel like returnng?
deepbluemew says (11:37 PM):
Depends on how the 4th generation turns out.
deepbluemew says (11:37 PM):
I have been watching the latest progress in relations with Platinum discoveries.
thethethethe says (11:38 PM):
So if DPP hacking interests you, you may return?
deepbluemew says (11:38 PM):
Maybe. It's a small chance.
thethethethe says (11:40 PM):
Judging from what I've seen of you're memory so far, you'll probably remember. While you were hacking, did you ever try hacking any games other the Pokemon games?
deepbluemew says (11:40 PM):
A little.
deepbluemew says (11:41 PM):
Well, I was messing around with a few other games - just for fun.
thethethethe says (11:41 PM):
Like what?
deepbluemew says (11:41 PM):
Digimon, Telefang, etc.
thethethethe says (11:43 PM):
I'm actually almost out of questions to ask, but I have one more. You've given quite a bit of advice to hackers already, but is there anything else you'd like to leave people with?
deepbluemew says (11:45 PM):
I have mentioned a number of advice in this interview so... one more advice - a really good advice that I hear from a good friend of mine - Always clear out the original map and do your own mapping from scratch to prove that you are a true romhacker, not some trash noobs.
deepbluemew says (11:45 PM):
who cant even do some strong level of creativiety
thethethethe says (11:46 PM):
Well it's not everyday we speak to hackers that have 'retired'. So thanks for the interview.
deepbluemew says (11:48 PM):
Thank you, it is a pleasure to be interviewed. If you want to hear my rocmmendations - Pokemon Brown, Pokemon Prism and Pokemon Rijon Adventures - they are all legitmate hacks that you should really try. They are all of high level and that's why it contains nothing bad - its 100% amazing. Try it, kids.

http://i38.tinypic.com/6yd4y8.png
Interview by thethethethe



Closing Notes
Some house keeping

If you're wondering who jazz is (from Tips and Tricks) I have no idea. I just happened to have a document on finding pointers in my hacking folder and since I'm lazy I used some of his document for the tutorial.

So I hope everyone liked this weeks issue. Keep on reading and keep on commenting.
Closing by dshayabusa
CSS design and graphics by dshayabusa. Ask for permission if you want to use them!

Tyrantrum October 26th, 2008 12:17 AM

Um..you added Pokémon Breakdown's review in Twilight: Road to Dreams also. xD

Thrace October 26th, 2008 12:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wind~ (Post 4067502)
Um..you added Pokémon Breakdown's review in Twilight: Road to Dreams also. xD

Heh, thats weird. I've added it now.

The Abyss October 26th, 2008 12:39 AM

This was a Great Newsletter! Keep up the good work. :P

Dratii October 26th, 2008 1:03 AM

Great as always Dshayabusa,
But some the new articles you spoke about up the top aren't there, are they still being done?

destinedjagold October 26th, 2008 1:09 AM

Wow. :)
I really like the newsletter today...
But, at first sight I was like "OMG it's a looooooooong newsletter!!! :shocked:" but it was fun to read (but I still find it short. :\ oh well...)...

The interview was fun to read. :)

the HotW section has three reviews! neat! :D
Breakdown has been a good hack, and still is. :)

well, overall, the newsletter today is really great.
great job for the RHN Team. ;)
Keep up the great work~

Thrace October 26th, 2008 1:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dratii (Post 4067572)
Great as always Dshayabusa,
But some the new articles you spoke about up the top aren't there, are they still being done?

I haven't had a response from EarthsVisitor so QotW isn't done yet. I had a Beginner's Corner written up but I guess I must have accidentally deleted the latest version from my Inbox (I was cleaning it).

I think it was long enough without those two for this issue anyway.

hi sir tomato my password is syvniti October 26th, 2008 2:14 AM

I didn't understand the tip, but jazz was an od hacker, who made a leaf green map, helped at brown, did some thing inportent to some text hacking, fixed some roms which wasn't working... I think

Neti October 26th, 2008 2:44 AM

nice newsletter like always
i got to apologize for not making the map review in time, i was going to do it on firday or saturday but my plans were destroyed by some real life problems...

Argent Crusader October 26th, 2008 4:13 AM

Very good as always! Quite enojayable to read on a Sunday's morning :D
I thank you to point to my thread, I think it's important people look a little bit on the history (not what the thread has became exactly).
Also all hack reviews are interesting. Very good hacks there.
Keep working hard and good luck!

EarthsVisitor October 26th, 2008 6:29 AM

Sorry about Question of the Week guys.
It was short notice, and I was busy yesterday.

But I sent it to db, so he should add as soon as he logs on. :]

TB Pro October 26th, 2008 9:40 AM

Wow, this was great! Erm...it was long, but not super long, I think it was just right. Wow, THREE HotW reviews? Awesome. Err, yeah, Breakdown! is/was a great hack. If you didn't know, it switched owners, Horus owns it now. Finally Genesis got a review. I was glad to see that Shrouded Chaos got a review. The Tips and Tricks section was great for newer hackers, and for some others...The interview was nice. Err...That's all I have to say, It was a great issue! BOL!

Thrace October 27th, 2008 1:11 AM

I've added the Question of the Week.
I've edited that post 6 times now...

And and I'll put an explanation in next week, EarthsVisitor.

The Abyss October 27th, 2008 1:17 AM

That was an interesting question. I would have to agree with Britney Spears on the answer though.

Hat? October 27th, 2008 2:03 AM

First of all I'd like to say well done to the RHN team, the newsletters are very fun to read!

I also have a suggestion for an optional alternative interviewing method, which if used, the person being interviewed could choose this method or the original one. Anyway, I put the idea in one of those collapsed boxes, if anyone wants to have a look:

Spoiler:
The interviewer sends the person a fixed amount of questions (that doesn't change each week) about, well, whatever thethethethe thinks people might want to know about that person.

The person then answers the questions, but this method allows for them to think out what they're going to write and neither the interviewer or the interviewed person can be cut off mid-sentence by the other. The person then sends back the questions with the replies (as long or as small as they like, hopefully not too small though ;)).

I was thinking that the fixed amount of questions should be a relatively small number because there's at least a part 2 to this idea and you don't want to ask ALL the questions in one go.

The interviewer then reads the replies, then sends back different questions for the person to fill in (same fixed amount), these can be either questions that ask to elaborate on answers from the previous round of questions or anything else thethethethe would like to ask.

If this was to go past 2 rounds (I thought the amount of rounds should be fixed aswell), then any following rounds would be similar to round 2 (being able to ask to elaborate on previous rounds answers).

I haven't thought of a fixed amount of questions, but I did have another thought: there could be 3 rounds. These 3 rounds would be about the past, present and future of ROM hacking respectively, not just general ROM hacking, I also mean about the persons past etc as well.

Thrace October 27th, 2008 2:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black_Phantom (Post 4070832)
First of all I'd like to say well done to the RHN team, the newsletters are very fun to read!

I also have a suggestion for an optional alternative interviewing method, which if used, the person being interviewed could choose this method or the original one. Anyway, I put the idea in one of those collapsed boxes, if anyone wants to have a look:

Spoiler:
The interviewer sends the person a fixed amount of questions (that doesn't change each week) about, well, whatever thethethethe thinks people might want to know about that person.

The person then answers the questions, but this method allows for them to think out what they're going to write and neither the interviewer or the interviewed person can be cut off mid-sentence by the other. The person then sends back the questions with the replies (as long or as small as they like, hopefully not too small though ;)).

I was thinking that the fixed amount of questions should be a relatively small number because there's at least a part 2 to this idea and you don't want to ask ALL the questions in one go.

The interviewer then reads the replies, then sends back different questions for the person to fill in (same fixed amount), these can be either questions that ask to elaborate on answers from the previous round of questions or anything else thethethethe would like to ask.

If this was to go past 2 rounds (I thought the amount of rounds should be fixed aswell), then any following rounds would be similar to round 2 (being able to ask to elaborate on previous rounds answers).

I haven't thought of a fixed amount of questions, but I did have another thought: there could be 3 rounds. These 3 rounds would be about the past, present and future of ROM hacking respectively, not just general ROM hacking, I also mean about the persons past etc as well.

Thats a good idea Black_Phantom but I'm not sure how effective it will be. From my experience with interviewing, its not like a conversation, people certainly take a long, long time to respond.

Hat? October 27th, 2008 2:54 AM

Thanks, I see what you mean but I just thought it might be another option you could offer to the people you interview, some people may feel under pressure to rush what they're going to say due to there being someone waiting right there for their response. There's only one disadvantage I can see with this method however and that's the usual one, getting people who contribute anything, to be reliable and get it in on time.

Darthatron October 27th, 2008 8:32 PM

Awesome issue. Good job. :) I like it because I'm in it. :D

The Abyss October 27th, 2008 8:42 PM

Why is this is the Hacks Showcase now?

Kaizer-X October 27th, 2008 8:52 PM

Nt sure but it still great. Haha. Cool and long issue with 5 reviews! Yay! My hack is one of them. xD looking for next week issue with the new features

Thrace October 27th, 2008 9:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XDRules (Post 4073760)
Why is this is the Hacks Showcase now?

RHN is now and official part of PC, therefore it will be stickied in the Hacks Showcase from now on.

Ninja Caterpie October 27th, 2008 9:57 PM

Hwa...? That's confusing! It should be a sticky in the main forum!

Surf October 27th, 2008 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark Lakitu (Post 4073909)
Hwa...? That's confusing! It should be a sticky in the main forum!

It's probably because it has a lot to do with the Hack Showcase because it reviews lots of hacks that are here

But I'm probably wrong

Meh

Yes I quote the entire newsletter LOL
it looks like the Ripper was sucking up a bit
But i have to agree with him in his rating

Thrace October 31st, 2008 10:17 PM

Hackimon12 please don't double post, its against the rules.

Don't quote the entire newsletter either. <_<

Kaizer-X November 1st, 2008 1:51 AM

Are they any new stuff for next week newsletter?

zel 2.0 November 1st, 2008 2:56 AM

I was wondering where was the RHN and I found it here, cool. Finally it's back where it deserved to be :)

Great issue, I read it a few days ago. I enjoyed reading it (and by the way, the review made me interested in playing Genesis, which I still havent done, good job! XP)

Thrace November 2nd, 2008 1:04 AM

Rom Hacking Newsletter
Issue 10 - Sunday, 2 November 2008
Introduction
Opening words

Welcome to Issue 10 of RHN! 10 issues already! Can you believe it? Where has the time gone? As you might have seen, RHN is now an official part of the PokeCommunity which is why its been stickied in the Hacks Showcase now.

We've finally got a beginner's corner segment thanks to the newest member of our team; Martin™! Make sure to read it even if you don't consider yourself a beginner, it might have some useful stuff that you didn't know about. HOTW has a full review because theres been so much progress on it, I highly recommend playing it. And I think thats about it, have fun reading!
Article by Thrace



Hacking News
Staying Current with the Rom Hacking Scene

Hack of the Year 2008

Hack of the Year for 2008 has officially begun, to see the format for this year simple visit the stickied thread in the Hacks Showcase or click here. Round 1 starts in just 3 short days so start polishing off your hacks for your hacks chance to hold the coveted title of Hack of the Year.

Just to clarify, the first round is not only a nominations round, its also the voting round for the Fan Favourite award. So don't neglect to vote for your favourite hack just becuase someone else as already nominated it.

Hack Rating System
RHN will follows a standardised rating system similar to that of IGN, ratings and their meanings are described below.
Spoiler:
10.0 to 9.0 - Masterful
Its almost impossible to make a hack that is perfect, but ratings in this range get pretty close. These hacks are flawless in all aspects of hacking, they are innovative and engaging.

8.9 to 8.0 - Impressive
Hacks that we feel are outstanding and are exceptional in at least one aspect will receive ratings in this range. Hacks that we feel are worthwhile and that everyone will find enjoyable. You'd need to put in a lot of effort to get this rating.

7.9 to 7.0 - Good
An excellent hack that is let down by a one or two major problems. Above average in all aspects but just missing a few things it needs to be great. Not amazing but has potential.

6.9 to 6.0 - Passable
Hacks that are just above average. Nothing to really get excited about. Nothing particularly horrible about the hack but nothing all that great either.

5.9 to 5.0 - Mediocre
A hack that provokes no emotion, standard, run-of-the-mill whatever you want to call it, these hacks are as average as they come.

4.9 to 4.0 - Lackluster
Hacks that do not have enough effort put into them. Probably not worth the attention for the time being. Has some potential to be better, but not enough to become something spectacular.

3.9 to 3.0 - Poor
Hacks that are flawed in all areas, most likely caused by inexperience by the author rather than effort. Not worth checking out regularly, will probably be cancelled the next week.

2.9 to 2.0 - Bad
Hacks that we recommend you avoid, not worth playing. Might have a few interesting ideas but ultimately is just very poorly executed. Major flaws in all aspects.

1.9 to 1.0 - Terrible
A hack we believe should not have had its thread accepted. These hacks are not even worth browsing over. These hacks are usually made by people trying to achieve internet stardom.

0.9 to 0.0 - Abysmal
Hacks that are not even truly hacks, more like edits. A few small changes to the original game, achievable in mere minutes.


HOTW Winner
Spotlight on the Hack of the Week

Pokémon Keyra [Link]
Hack Author: eing15
Reviewed By: Thrace
Rating: 7.2

I wasn't looking forward to playing this game when I downloaded it, I tend to avoid hacks in a different language. I've always considered the storyline to be central for a hack and it wasn't any different with this one. I was unsure about giving this a full review until it had an English translation but it seems doubtful there will ever be one and theres far too much progress on this hack to ignore it.

Graphically this hack is typical of most Spanish hacks; huge range of assorted tiles that generally look very nice together. The mapping however is just plain bad. Theres no getting over it, even with all the pretty new tiles the mapping is simply very poor. Some of the tiles have been inserted very poorly as well, and bad palettes just make it worse. On the upside, the author has not compromised on tiles. Every tile looks exactly like you'd expect it too. Theres even an industrial town with brown water and sewers, its obvious that theres been a lot of attention to detail.

On the scripting side of things, everything has been good, I failed to find any problems in the scripting though of course I can't comment on the quality of the text. Scripting is overall very consistent, although theres been nothing that blew me away it was still very engaging. Many of the scripts have been arranged in a clever manner, with most events forcing you to "go back before you can go forward". I have very few complaints with this hack when it comes to scripting. It is overall very entertaining.

It probably seems like I've picked on the problems more than looking at the good things about this hack. I find it difficult to give it a low rating because although I didn't really follow it, it was fun to play... maybe I just haven't played any hacks for a while? Either way, I'm definitely going to recommend this, its not one that you can't afford to play but you won't regret giving it a go.
Article by Thrace



The Gradual Faltering of Hacking
The Rom Hacking Scene in Perspective

We've all seen it, or said it in some form or another. "Hackers are just doing it for the fame," or "These knew hacks aren't as original as the old ones." But is it really the hackers faults? Many things factor into why "hacks aren't as good as they used to be."

First of all, there are many hacks. This makes writing an original story quite difficult. There are only a handful of legendary Pokémon; there are only a handful of ways to mix up the story. I like Nintendo's standard formula for creating a story. I know my favorite hacks stick to this formula, but sometimes it's best to get the creative juices flowing by doing something outside the box.

Another problem is a lack of "umph" caused by, in my opinion, hacking made easy by an over-abundance of tools. Now, I'm not saying that tools are bad. On the contrary, tools help people delve into the world of hacking. The problem is these people usually don't go past using such tools. People, like CoolBoyMan, that have been around since the beginning had to do EVERYTHING on their own. This has made them excellent at doing what they do, and they really know the ins and outs of the ROM.

My theory (call it what you will) is that this generation of hackers (myself included) doesn't know how to step drastically out of the box. We've been taught with tools and don't know the inner workings of the ROM. I think this is why breaking into Diamond and Pearl is taking so long. We've got a group of dedicated individuals that know what their doing, but other then that, most of us don't know the components of a Diamond ROM. When hackers started hacking FireRed, there were no tools and we had to learned how Gameboy Advanced ROMs work, as we do now with DS ROMs. The difference is that since our generation of hackers don't know the ROMs work, we can't contribute to the furthering of DP Hacking. We know that a tool does what it does and leave it at that. We have a different mentality when it comes to hacking, which I think puts the Hacking Community past it's heyday. Can we return? I cannot answer.

Before I get flamed, I am most certainly playing devil's advocate. I know relatively little about the Hacking Community before the ShinyGold Era. I'm just trying to get people thinking in ways they may not have thought before.
Article by Kawaii, Inc.



Beginner's Corner
Common Problems/Questions

If you are new to XSE and your previous script editor was ScriptEd, you sure have experienced number of errors when compiling a giveitem, givepokemon, trainerbattle, or recently msgbox script. The mentioned constructs (commands with a set of parameters) have changed a bit since ScriptEd era.

To keep track of parameters you need to insert, write out the command name, put your cursor somewhere in the middle of it and press F1. A small window will pop out with the command name and its function. And the number of parameters of course. Each of them is defined in the description.

This is the easiest solution until the prepared major XSE update is released, which will include in-line command help along with amount of parameters displayed.

Until then, here are four mentioned commands with parameters described like in the command help:
Spoiler:
msgbox
Amount of parameters: 2

Parameters:
Pointer - Points to the message data.
Byte - Replaces the callstd/boxset line under msgbox, put in numbers like in callstd/boxset.

---
giveitem
Amount of parameters: 3

Parameters:
Word - Hex number of the item to be given. Can be replaced with ITEM_ITEMNAME (name always without spaces).

Byte - Quantity of theitem to be given.
Byte - 0 for obtained, 1 for found.
---
trainerbattle
Amount of parameters: 5

Parameters:
Byte - Kind of battle - 0,1,2,3 - I think 0 is normal. Just experiment, one of these is double-battle.

Word - Hex number of battle to start. Use PET to determine desied battle.
Word - Reserved - 0x0.
Pointer - Offset of the message to be shown when challenged.
Pointer - Offset of the message to be shown when defeated.
---
givepokemon
Amount of parameters: 5

Parameters:
Word - Pokémon species to give.
Byte - Level of the Pokémon.
Word - Hex number of the item to be held.
DWord - Filler - 0x0.
DWord - Filler - 0x0.
Byte - Filler - 0x0.

Article by Martin™



Tips and Tricks
A Cool New Trick

This weeks tip will be a small one but could potentially be very useful to some.

Ever notice that in Fuchsia City the Pokemon in the top left compartment is different depending on the Fossil you chose way back in Mt. Moon? No? Yeah, neither did I until a short while ago. In case you were wondering it has the fossil Pokemon that you didn't choose. But its possible to change it to any OW you want and this week I'm going to show you how.

The way it works is through a level script. Put the following in a type 3 level script:
Quote:

setvar 0x4010 0x[OW Number]
And set the OW number of the Person you want to have its OW changed to 240. And thats it! Pretty simple, huh?
Tip donated by Thrace



Interview
An in-depth chat with...
Spoiler:
thethethethe says (11:47 AM):
I guess we'll start the same way as always with how did you start hacking?
jagolddemium says (11:47 AM):
I started hacking after I got interested to try it out after I saw one of Tamashii's videos on YouTube.
jagolddemium says (11:48 AM):
then my brother made a little research and found A-Map...
jagolddemium says (11:49 AM):
so I decided to investigate and found PC and there I found some interesting stuff and I decided to hack.
thethethethe says (11:50 AM):
You're fairly well renowned for the Ruby Destiny Trilogy, but were there any hacks before that?
jagolddemium says (11:50 AM):
no...
jagolddemium says (11:50 AM):
Reign of Legends was my first hack...
jagolddemium says (11:51 AM):
and I restarted it 3 times before I posted it on PC...
thethethethe says (11:51 AM):
So you've never quit on a hack...
jagolddemium says (11:51 AM):
no
jagolddemium says (11:52 AM):
I always wanted to finish things I started...
jagolddemium says (11:52 AM):
no matter how long it'll take me...
thethethethe says (11:52 AM):
I guess that's a good quality to have.
thethethethe says (11:54 AM):
Since you're working on the third game of Ruby Destiny, do you have any idea on what you'll be doing when you complete that hack?
jagolddemium says (11:56 AM):
actually, I made a decision of what I'll do after LoG(Life of Guardians)...
jagolddemium says (11:56 AM):
I decided that I'll remake Reign of Legends once again to make it even better.
jagolddemium says (11:56 AM):
and after that, Rescue Rangers...
thethethethe says (11:58 AM):
That sounds pretty interesting, I'd love to see a new Reign of legends as I wasn't a big fan of the one that was released at PC
thethethethe says (11:59 AM):
Many hackers have found an inspiration to hack from you, but where do you find your inspiration?
jagolddemium says (11:59 AM):
that's a bit difficult to answer...
jagolddemium says (12:00 PM):
well, my only inspiration is to make a new game for everyone to play
jagolddemium says (12:01 PM):
but also, I am inspired to hack because of Coolboyman, you(thethethethe), zel and Tamashii.
jagolddemium says (12:02 PM):
why? because they make a hack just for people to have a new game to play...
thethethethe says (12:03 PM):
You're quite open about how you believe hacking should be something to be done for fun and not to seek fame, but is there anything you dislike about hacking?
jagolddemium says (12:04 PM):
spriting, that's what I dislike of doing 'cause I have no talent in that field...
thethethethe says (12:05 PM):
So just spriting? Nothing else?
jagolddemium says (12:06 PM):
only spriting... I still need to learn about the field of editing the ROM using hex, so that's not in my dislike list.., for now...
thethethethe says (12:07 PM):
Have you ever considered quitting hacking?
jagolddemium says (12:16 PM):
well...
jagolddemium says (12:16 PM):
I can't deny that fact, so yeah, I once considered to quit on hacking when I was almost done with Rescue Rangers.
jagolddemium says (12:17 PM):
but the world is full of boredom so yeah, I can't stay away from ROM hacking.
jagolddemium says (12:18 PM):
also, there are always new stories that I can think of, and it'll convince me to hack to put all those stories I had.
thethethethe says (12:19 PM):
Was there any specific reasoning behind the name Time?
jagolddemium says (12:20 PM):
well er... its a bit childish, but yeah, I had this dream where some men were chasing me and suddenly, I looked at my right palm and magically a clock showed up on my palm and everything stopped.
jagolddemium says (12:20 PM):
and from that point, I made my escape, and that's why I was convinced to change my name to Time. but I'll be destinedjagold soon.
thethethethe says (12:21 PM):
After being called destinedjagold for a year or so, does it feel weird when people call you 'Time'?
jagolddemium says (12:22 PM):
indeed it is... -__-
jagolddemium says (12:22 PM):
until now
jagolddemium says (12:22 PM):
or rather even today, it still feels weird...
thethethethe says (12:24 PM):
We can't all be hacking forever, and we'll all eventually stop some day, so how long do you see yourself continuing this?
jagolddemium says (12:25 PM):
I don't know...
jagolddemium says (12:25 PM):
maybe when I can find myself too occupied to important stuff in real life where I can no longer have time to hack...
jagolddemium says (12:25 PM):
'Time' can tell when, though...
thethethethe says (12:26 PM):
Have you ever attempted to hack something other than a Pokemon ROM?
jagolddemium says (12:27 PM):
actually, no. I am a die-hard POKéMON fan.
thethethethe says (12:28 PM):
Is there any hack around that you'd recommend people playing?
jagolddemium says (12:29 PM):
to be honest, I haven't played any hacks lately...
jagolddemium says (12:29 PM):
but I recommend Prism and Genesis, since both hacks are very cool.
thethethethe says (12:30 PM):
I guess we'll wrap this up and would you like to leave the people reading this with any advice?
jagolddemium says (12:30 PM):
hm...
jagolddemium says (12:30 PM):
stay on one project and concentrate your attention on it.
jagolddemium says (12:31 PM):
if you have new ideas you thought of, why not try and combine it with your current project?
jagolddemium says (12:31 PM):
also, learn how to script, even the basics, for scripting is really the most important thing you need in ROM hacking.
jagolddemium says (12:31 PM):
and... I guess that's all...
thethethethe says (12:32 PM):
That's a bit to swallow, but thanks for the interview destinedjagold/Time
jagolddemium says (12:32 PM):
sorry about that, and thanks~

http://i33.tinypic.com/9qv1w7.png http://i37.tinypic.com/2isxmq9.png
Interview by thethethethe


Closing Notes
Some House Keeping

HotY nominations are really close, I mentioned it in Hacking News but I'd just like to mention it again. November 5 is when it starts. Yeah thats basically it, the Opening and Closing were rather short this issue...
Closing by Thrace
CSS design and graphics by Thrace. Ask for permission if you want to use them!

Ripper November 2nd, 2008 1:14 AM

Good issue, it's good to see an actual article in there :P

Hiche.. November 2nd, 2008 1:16 AM

I really liked is week's issue. I like the Beginner's corner section. Good thinking.
Also, the interview was nice, not too long though.


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