Changing the Backsprites in FIRE RED (for beginners)

[awipe1]

Introduction

In this tutorial, I will show you how to change the image and palette of the male/female trainers backsprite. The reason why I am making this tutorial is because I have been looking for a tutorial like this for quiet some time and haven't found anything, so I decided to figure it out on my own (with a little but of help from people in the community). I also wanted to give back to the community since they have helped me out so much!

This tutorial is fairly easy and here are the tool you will need.

Tools

*NSE Classic
*Paint
*Advanced Palette Editor
*Irfanview

NOTE: Step 1-Step3 are for people who don't already have thier backsprites made. If you already have the backsprites you want to insert, go straight to step 4.

Step 1 - Locating the backsprites

Spoiler:

First open up your NSE.
Go to File >> Open Then open your Pokemon ROM.
Now go to Options >> Bookmarks >> View Bookmarks.

Now a little box will appear and it should look like this:

Now if you click the [+] beside 'Back Sprites' you can see all of the Hero backsprites and Heroine backsprites.

Step 2 - Exporting the backsprites

Spoiler:

Now we are going to export the Hero/Heroine sprites. So decide which backsprite you want to change first. I am going to change the Hero for this tutorial.

So click Hero 0 and you should see something like this:

Now click open.

Now you can see on your NSE, the hero's backsprite popped up and you can edit it all you want ... but you are pretty limited. So what we are going to do is export it.

So go to File >> Export >> Export Bitmap
Now you are going to save this image in a place where you can access it easily.
NOTE: I recommened saving it in a folder on your desktop.
Save the image whereever you would like, and then go back to NSE.

Remmember this little box:

Well now you are going to do the exact same step, but with heros 1-4. So by the end of it all, you should have 5 sprites all saved (preferably in the same spot).

Step 3 - Editing the backsprites

Spoiler:

Now you can close down NSE (or leave it open, we will be using it again later but for now it's not important). You don't need to worry about saving because we didn't really change anything yet.

So go to your folder with all your backsprites and you should be looking at something like this:

Now right click the first picture and go to Open with >> Paint
Now you can edit the backsprite in anyway you want right?

WRONG!!! Since we saved it as a bitmap, the file will still be using the same palette that the old palette was using. So to fix this open up a NEW paint program. On the first paint program (the one with your Hero0 image) press Ctrl+A then press Ctrl+C (Or in easier terms, copy the whole image). Now go back to the new paint file (the one that is just completely blank) and click on the box tool (the one on the very top right of the toolbox). It looks like this:

Now rightclick the on the screen and click paste. Now you should have something like this:

Now you should have something like this:

You can now close the paint program that had the hero0 sprite. The first one we opened up.

Alright but we need to get rid of that white space. All of your backsprites need to be 64x64 (so 64 pixels along the x-axis and 64 pixels along the y-axis). So all you need to do is
Click on Image >> Attributes

Now under width and height change both those numbers to 64. Then press okay. Now your sprite will be 64x64 and you can edit it in anyway you want. Now go to File >> Save as
Now go to 'Save type as' and on the drop down, click on PNG (*.png)

Now repeat this step for the other 4 hero sprites.

Now you can edit the sprites in anyway you want. make sure you only use 16 different colours for your sprite (so 15 colors plus 1 for the background).

Step 4 - Indexing your backsprite

Spoiler:

Alright so at this point you should have 5 backsprites all saved as a PNG.

Now open up Irfanview.

Go to File>>Open and now navigate to one of your new backsprites. Click it and then press Open.

Now go to Image >> Decrease color depth and you should see a screen like this pop up:

Now make sure you click "16 Color (4 BPP)" and make sure you have "Use Floyd-Steinberg (for max. 256 colors)" checked and "Make grayscale image" unchecked. Now press OK.

You shouldn't really see too much of a difference in your image.

Now go to Image >> Palette >> Edit Palette and you should see a screen that looks like this, pop up:

Now let me explain to you the importance of the colour in the first slot. Right now the color in my first slot in the picture above is black. So this image/palette is going to be telling the game to make anything in my sprite that is black, to be transparrent. We don't want that. Why? Because if black is our transparrent colour, then we will have a big purple cube in our sprite when we load this into our ROM.

So our next step is to try to make our first colour to be equal to our background colour.

So click on the first color and look at the number in this area:

So in my case, my number is (4,2,4). So whatever your number is, write that number down on a scrap piece of paper os somewhere where you will remmember it.

Now click on your transparrent colour and do the same thing. Right down that number on a piece of paper.

Now double click on the colour in the first slot. You will see a screen like this pop up:

Now in the area where it says RED, GREEN and BLUE. You will notice the numbers in that slot are the same as the first set of numbers you wrote down. What you want to do is replace those numbers with the second set of numbers you wrote down.

For example if you wrote down (108,50,156) before, in that RED,GREEN and BLUE slot you should have RED to be 108, GREEN to be 50 and BLUE to be 156. Then click OK.

Now double click on your transparrent colour, and do the exact same step, but instead of filling the RED,GREEN,and BLUE slot with the second set of numbers you wrote down, you want to fill them with the first set of numbers you wrote down.

Now after you click OK, you will get sent back to your palette screen. Click OK on that aswell.

Now if you look at your backsprite, it will look all funky. For example, mine looks like this:

Don't worry, this is suppose to happen.

Now we will fix this issue but first thing is first, we need to save this palette.
Go to Image >> Palette >> Export Palette Now save the palette file to somewhere where you will remember (preferably in the same spot where you have all your backsprites).

Alright now go to File >> Save as
Now go down to Save as type and change that to "BMP - Windows Bitmap"
Now save this image in the same area where you have all your other backsprites. For the purposes of this tutorial, save it as 'BackspritePaletteImage' because that's what I am going to be calling it for the next little while.
NOTE: DO NOT REPLACE YOUR OLD IMAGE. YOU WILL BE NEEDING IT!

Hit Save, and now we can exit out of Irfanview.

Step 5 - Fixing the Colour Mix-up

Spoiler:

Alright so open the BackspritePaletteImage in paint, and open up your first Hero Sprite in Paint as well. So you should have 2 different paint programs opened up, one containing your sprites that looks normal, and one containing the sprite that looks mixed up.

Now go to the one that looks normal (I will call this one Hero0).

When you are at Hero0, Press Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C (Or just copy the whole image).
Now head over to 'BackspritePaletteImage' and click on that box tool that we used before, you know, this one:

Now Right click then press Paste.

Now it should look like normal. So go to File >> Save as
Save it as a completely new picture, and call it something like 'Hero0WithPalette'.
NOTE: In the 'Save as Type' Box, it should be trying to save it as a BMP. If it's not, you did something wrong.

Now you can close "Hero0" and Open up "Hero1".

Go to Hero1 and press Ctrl+A and Ctrl+C. Go to "Hero0WithPalette" and paste is there. Now go to File >> Save As and save it as a new image again. Name this one "Hero1WithPalette".

Now you probably get the idea, do the same thing for the rest of the images.

Step 6 - Inserting the Images

Spoiler:

Open up NSE again.

Go to File >> Open and then open your ROM.

Now go to Options >> Bookmarks >> View Bookmarks.
Now you should see this screen pop up:

Now if you click the [+] beside 'Back Sprites' you can see all of the Hero backsprites and Heroine backsprites.

Now click on hero0 and then press open.

Now go to File >> Import >> Import Image Now select your 'Hero0WithPalette' Image.
You will notice that the palette is still the same as the old palette, we will be changing that later, don't worry.
Then go to File >> Save.

Now repeat this step for the other 4 images as well.

Now you can close NSE, we won't be using it again.

Step 7 - Changing the Palette

Spoiler:

Now open up Advanced Palette Editor.

Go to File >> Open ROM and open your ROM.

Now in that box Palette Loading Options you are going to want Load from Offset checked off.

Now in the Offset (hex) box, you are going to want to type in your backsprites palette offset.
The offset depends on what character you are editing.

If you are changing the males palette, you are going to want to enter 00E76EBC
If you are changing the females palette, you are going to want to enter 00E76EE4

Once you have put in your number. Check the box Compressed Palette.
Now press Load.

Now under Changed Palette you should see three little icons. One of them will be in colour while the other two will be greyed out. Click on the one that is in colour.

Now remember back in step 4 when I made you export the palette? You are going to want to find that palette, click on it and press open.

Now in AdvancedPaletteEditor, you have to press the replace button.

Results

Spoiler:

That should be everything! Go load up your ROM and test it out!

Credit/Questions
Special thanks to these people for teaching me what I know:
Dylan
Karatekid552
Kurapika

If you have any questions please feel free to ask. If you would like me to add more or expand on anything please let me know. This was my first tutorial, if you would like more please let me know! :)

Thank you for reading my tutorial, I hope it helps you along the way!

 

[corpsra99]

OH MY ARCEUS! you my friend are the best in the world! i've looked through countless tutorials on this website and youtube of how to do it and yours actually worked for me! keep up the tutorials they're awesome!

 

[Sniper]

Makes things easier and not complicated, thanks!

 

[awipe1]

Thanks for the support guys! If I get more positive feedback, I will probably post a tutorial on how to change the badges in FIRE RED.

 

[Sniper]

Wait, won't this change the Male's hero OW palette sprite too?
Because I notice when I changed the hero's ow and palette
the hero's palette changed too along with the backsprite. So would it overwrite?

EDIT: Ooops, nevermind ^^

 

[Fristi61]

Wait, won't this change the Male's hero OW palette sprite too?
Because I notice when I changed the hero's ow and palette
the hero's palette changed too along with the backsprite. So would it overwrite?

EDIT: Ooops, nevermind ^^

In NSE, the bookmarks for the hero backsprites appear with the OW palette. This is sort of a mistake, because they actually have their own palettes in-game. At least, that's what happened for me, maybe I'm using a wrong version.

 

[awipe1]

In NSE, the bookmarks for the hero backsprites appear with the OW palette. This is sort of a mistake, because they actually have their own palettes in-game. At least, that's what happened for me, maybe I'm using a wrong version.

No I am pretty sure that is right. Or possibly the hero OW palette and thr backsprite palette are at different offsets from each other, but have the same colours. So that makes people think they are the same.

 

[Fristi61]

No I am pretty sure that is right. Or possibly the hero OW palette and thr backsprite palette are at different offsets from each other, but have the same colours. So that makes people think they are the same.

Actually the backsprite colours (skin tones, especially) are paler (is that a word?) than the OW sprite's colours.

 

[awipe1]

Actually the backsprite colours (skin tones, especially) are paler (is that a word?) than the OW sprite's colours.

Rofl oh I didn't notice that :P Well that is just proof that the OW offset and the backsprite offset are two different things! :p

 

[OmnisScio]

I went through and followed this tutorial to the letter. For the most part I was able to do everything that it said. I had to convert the pallet to .act because APE didn't like the .pal.
The problem I am encountering is that when I paste the normal looking image onto the odd looking one (with the correct pallet) in paint (step 5) and save it (I'm saving as a 16 color bitmap), it looks even worse. If I put it into the game, It's completely wrong.
I opened this image in irfanview and looked at the pallet, it was not even remotely close to anything relating to the original image.
I am wondering if the version of paint I have is a factor. In the screenshots it looks like an older version of paint, whereas mine is the one that came with windows 7.

 

[~Pokedude~]

Apparantly you need a paint version of XP or Vista.

 

[OmnisScio]

Thank you, that was indeed the problem.
I request that with a couple of minor modifications, this become the primary inserting sprites tutorial. It's simple, but goes into sufficient detail about everything.
Firstly I would add that windows 7 paint will not work for this, it must be an older version. Luckily older versions are free and easy to find.
Also, I find that APE can be really irritating to work with. When I open the rom, I cannot interact with anything on the main screen. I have to click bookmark, put the offset in there, name it (it won't let you proceed without naming it) and then I can start using the programs main features.

Edit: I'm working on the backsprites. I'm confident that all my images are correctly formatted, however some of them don't work properly. For both the male and female backsprites, two out of the five have the colors all messed up when I try to put them in through NSE. The pallet is not the problem as they all use the same one, and three of them work perfectly.

 

[awipe1]

I forgot I made this tutorial I was looking for a tutorial for backspriting and found my own! :P

 

[RetroGamingTactics]

Wow, this was a very great tutorial, I'm still "new" to hacking so this should help me out with my upcoming hack. Thanks for making the tut!