Completely Hacking the Fire Red Title Screen by DawnRyder

[DawnRyder]

Welcome! I am going to show you how to fully edit the Fire Red Titlescreen.
Tools Needed:
IrfanView (or suitable substitute)
unLZ.GBA
Photoshop/GIMP(you can get gimp completely free at gimp.com)
Paint (or suitable substitute)
NTME(latest version)
APE

~UPDATE~: I found out that your background TileSET width needs to be less than 256px.

To hack the titlescreen you first need to know the offsets in unLZ.GBA. I list them here.

Spoiler:

2009- Pokémon FireRed logo (256 colors)
2010- Pokémon FireRed logo TileMap
2011- Charizard Sprite
2012- Charizard Sprite TileMap
2013- Gamefreak Copyright image
2014- Gamefreak Copyright image TileMap

This tutorial will be split into 3 parts.
Part 1: The Charizard
Part 2: The Background
Part 3: The Logo


PART 1: The Charizard

Spoiler:

The Charizard I think is the easiest part. First off, you need an indexed sprite of the pokémon you want to insert. I will use the Platinum First-frame Latios from pe2k.com.

*pokemonelite2000 link removed*

^This sprite^


Open the Image in IrfanView.

*image removed*

Click [Image]->[Decrease Color Depth] and select 16 colors (4bpp)
*image removed*
The sprite should look the same. Now go to [Image]->[Palette]->[Edit Palette…]
Mine looks like this:
*image removed*
For mine, all you do is edit the first color, (The one that is highlighted) make it bright green and it works fine. (With others, however, you may need to edit the palette more.)

Now, Export the Palette by going to [Image]->[Palette]->[Export Palette…] and save it as 'latios.pal' or something.
*image removed*
Now save your image.

Right-click your image and select [Properties]. Go to summary, and it should look like the next image.
The only thing that matters here is 'Bit Depth' it MUST be 4.
*image removed*
Now you need to open up NTME. Go to [File]->[Open TileSet] and select your sprite.
*image removed*

You 're going to want to select the whole image by clicking the '+' and '-' buttons in the 'Tile Selection' pane.
*image removed*

Click the 'Preset Sizes' drop-down box and select FR/LG TS.
You will want to arrange the sprite so it is on the middle right-hand side of the TileMap.
*image removed*

Now for the PaletteMap THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! You MUST cover at least the sprite in D tiles.
*image removed*


Now Goto [File]->[Save TileMap] and save it in the same directory as the sprite. Call it 'latios.raw' or something.

Now is the easy part. Go back to unLZ.GBA and goto 2011.
It should look like this:
*image removed*

Click 'Import' and select the Latios sprite.
*image removed*

Now click 'Write to Rom'.
*image removed*

Leave this alone and click 'OK'. It should work.
Now goto 2012. And click [File]->[Load Raw…] and select your TileMap. (I saved it as latios.raw) And click 'Write to Rom'.
*image removed*

It's basically the same with the first one. Just leave it alone and click OK. It should also work.
Now, leave unLZ.GBA open and open the ROM in VBA or No$gba. The titlescreen image will look wrong.
*image removed*


That is because we haven't edited the Palette yet. Open APE and open your ROM. Goto '00EAD5E8' (Charizard Titlescreen palette)

*image removed*

Click on the button in the bottom right-hand corner witht the arrow that is facing left. Select your palette.
*image removed*

If you get an error like this one:

*image removed*
Then click the spoiler

Spoiler:

Just keep trying until you get this with an error like 'Runtime Error 13':
*image removed*

The palette is loaded, but the application crashed. DON'T MOVE! Press Ctrl+PrintScreen on your keyboard. Open Paint. Press Ctrl+V. You should be able to see the bottom palette in your screenshot.
Now, Re-Open APE and open your ROM. Go back to 00EAD5E8 and in the bottom pane, copy the hex codes of the colors from the screenshot into the coresponding boxes in APE. Until it looks like this:
*image removed*

Now click 'Replace'. Then, click 'Load' and the palettes should be the same.
*image removed*

Now open your ROM and it should look fine.
*image removed*


Congratulations! You have just sucessfully edited the Pokémon sprite in the FireRed Titlescreen!

PART 2: The Background

Spoiler:

In part 1 you learned how to edit the Charizard sprite. Now, I'm going to use the same ROM and insert a background.

BACKGROUND NOTES: When making a background, make sure that the image width and height are divisible by 8. (The width and height of a tile)

The first thing you have to do is pick a background. Be sure to get one that loks fairly well in 16 colors.

I will be using this one:
*image removed*
I got it from spriters-resource.com (In Pokémon Platinum Battle Backgrounds. Credits to klnothincomin) However, their website is down ATM, so I couldn't pick out a better one. :(
So, I'm going to let you download it by clicking on it. (I have already indexed the image. The black tile is for transparency. NOTE: The first color of the palette is the one that the GBA will use for transparency.)

Ok. What you need to do is make a TileMap with NTME. Make sure the 'Preset Sizes' is 'FR/LG TS'. Select the whole thing and add it to the TileMap. Then arrange it so it looks like this:
*image removed*
Now for the PaletteMap. THIS IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT. All the tiles must be set at 'E' and only 'E'. They cannot be set at F because you will have blinking stuff all over the place. So, just set it up like this:
*image removed*
Now save the tilemap as 'background.raw' or something. Now insert it into the ROM by opening unLZ.GBA and going to 2013.
*image removed*
Now, notice that I did not add any text to the image. There is no 'Press Start' I have not yet figured out how to make it blink with a background yet. (With my luck, I will probably figure it out like 10 minutes after I post this tutorial.) Anyway, replace the image with the background and click 'Write to ROM.' The image is way to big to begin with, so remember the hex size of the image. Here is an example:
*image removed*
Remember the 'A60' and open your ROM in FSF. Input the 'A60' into the hex box in the bottom right-hand corner of the window. The other box there should show you a number value instead of hex value, In my case it's 2656 now, copy that and place it in the 'Needed Bytes' box. Make sure 'Search from the beginning of the ROM' is selected and click Search. Mine came up with '71E55C'. So, I copy that hex value, and go back to unLZ.GBA.
*image removed*
Back at unLZ.GBA click 'Write to ROM' again and make it look like this:
*image removed*
Yeah, just leave those two zeroes alone and click OK. It should come up with something like this:
*image removed*
Click OK. Now click Next. You should be at image number 2014.
*image removed*
Goto [File]->[Load Raw…] and select the TileMap you saved earlier. Then Click 'Write to ROM'. If you get a size error, do the same thing that you did with the image. (It will work)

Now open the ROM in VBA. It will look like this:
*image removed*
See those screwy tiles in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen? I still can't figure out how to get rid of them. (But don't worry about it)
Now for palette editing.

Open the background in IrfanView and save the palette. Then Open APE and got to offset '00EAE094' and load your palette in the bottom pane.
Click Replace and then click Load and it should look like this:
*image removed*
Open your ROM and It should look like this:
*image removed*
Now, those tiles on the bottom-left hand corner come up in all my bootscreens for some reason. I don't know why. The same thing happens in these:
*image removed*
*image removed*
If anyone can tell me how to fix these, please notify me. I don't think it has anything to do with NTME, but I'm not sure. I tried doing the TileMap in PTC and Cyclone too, and it still came up. If anyone has a solution to this, I would greatly appreciate it if you could tell me. (Or I may come up with a solution myself)

Anyway, Congratulations! You have Successfully Edited the Background for the Fire Red Titlescreen!

I will add the rest of the tutorial later.

 

[Zeffy]

Nice tutorial. Its very easy to follow. I hope to see the other parts soon.

 

[Haku.]

nice..
i get the tutorial easily but will you add how to change the position?
thanks

 

[Tropical Sunlight]

nice..
i get the tutorial easily but will you add how to change the position?
thanks

You change the position when making the tilemap.
For example, if DawnRyder put his Latios in the middle of the tilemap, it would have been in the middle.

 

[Haku.]

Okay but i get an ugly darkrai..
i didnt used the sprite from Dp as it's not ncie..
so i load my own one and set it to 80x80
i did all the steps but when i play the game i can only see the pokemon title distorted in where i put it...
so i used my backup and made another backup(for safety)
i did the same steps and this time i load the raw on 2011(Mine is BRPE so charizard is 2010)
and the pokemon pic is there but background gone and the background colour of the pokemmon pic is greenish..
any help?

 

[DawnRyder]

You change the position when making the tilemap.
For example, if DawnRyder put his Latios in the middle of the tilemap, it would have been in the middle.

Yes, be sure to read the instructions very carefully.

xmouvelianx, you need to put the pokemon sprite instead of the Charizard. You got that right the first time. When you're editing the tilemap, you need to make sure that it is set at 32x20 or FR/LG TS in NTME.

P.S. Can you send a screenshot?

 

[Zeffy]

This is really great, but what about Ruby?

 

[SharpPoint]

This is really great, but what about Ruby?

Lul, obviously this is FireRed only. To edit it in Ruby would require different steps.

 

[theking6]

Nice! thanks for the help

 

[sky_queen3]

Finally, one that actually worked for me! *hugs you so hard you can bearly breathe* :cer_love: :pink_love:

 

[Neo-Wolf]

Wow. Nice tut, DR. Guys, DR is a very good TE. Maybe you can make a tut on editing the BootScreen as well.

 

[DawnRyder]

Hey, thanks Neo-Wolf!

You guys want me to add bootscreen editing as a bonus at the end?

 

[OM3GA Umbr30n]

Bootscreen editer would help :D

 

[DawnRyder]

OK! Bootscreen it is then!

BTW I've got Part 2 in there!

 

[giradialkia]

Although I already knew some of this, you just taught me how to use NTME. Yes, I know, it's stupid, but I just wasn't able to get my head around it. So thanks for that. And it's a great tutorial, anyways.
Btw, feel free to post that Background Editing bit whenever you like, (cough- anytime immediately is good):D. Haha.. Thanks again, great tut.

 

[Abnegation]

Well, this is a decent tutorial, however I wouldn't call it complete. You should add in how to insert text, make text or get rid of the text that is there if you have a full titlescreen like this one.

And only need to erase the background. Decent job however. Should help some people out!

 

[DawnRyder]

Well, this is a decent tutorial, however I wouldn't call it complete. You should add in how to insert text, make text or get rid of the text that is there if you have a full titlescreen like this one.
And only need to erase the background. Decent job however. Should help some people out!

Like I said at the end of the first post, I will add the rest later.

Patience, young ones...

 

[Abnegation]

Like I said at the end of the first post, I will add the rest later.

Patience, young ones...

Ah well I was just offering up a suggestion, I wan't sure what "the rest" had intailed, so best of luck with the tutorial, looking good so far.

 

[DawnRyder]

Ah well I was just offering up a suggestion, I wan't sure what "the rest" had intailed, so best of luck with the tutorial, looking good so far.

I posted that this was going to be in 3 parts. I've only finished 2. "The Rest" means part 3. OK?

 

[Flandre Scarlet]

hey the DR. nice tut you got here ^_^ just wanna point out something.

the reason why there are tile glitches in the bottom-left corner, is because your tilemap is too big. ~ i experience this all the time u_u
anyway, it's a great tutorial. (:

~flandre