Editing graphics in Pokémon Black and Pokémon White with Crystal Tile 2

[Platinum Lucario]

Hey everyone! Davin (aka Platinum Lucario) here.

Have any of you been frustrated trying to edit the title screen or any other image that is compressed on a Pokémon Black or Pokémon White ROM? I'm sure plenty of you have looked through at other tutorials and aren't explained properly, I'll explain it all in full detail. The solution to editing the images on a Pokémon Black or Pokémon White ROM has finally been revealed! Of course... at first I was frustrated that I had trouble editing the title screen of a Pokémon Black ROM myself. Alright! Allow me to explain!

Here's what you'll need:

• A Pokémon Black and/or Pokémon White ROM (a .nds file).
• An Emulator (I would recommend using the latest version of DeSmuME).
• Crystal Tile 2. Which you can download the latest version here
• DSBuff. For unpacking and packing the ROM.
• Another hex editor for putting in new values (which I'd use Stirling). [Optional]
• Paint.NET. For changing the image size if the image does not stay when importing on Crystal Tile 2. Paint.NET allows you to increase or decrease the canvas size in any direction.
• Backups! Very important if you make a mistake.
• Tahaxan. For viewing the image, just incase anything goes wrong. [Optional]
• ConsoleTool v30. For changing the palette, but you can use CrystalTile by double clicking the colours on the palette tab. [Optional]

Alright... if you've got those tools, then lets get started!

Step 1: Open up DSBuff and then click the browse icon and search for the ROM. Once it's selected, click on Unpack.

Step 2: A window appears after your ROM has been extracted. Now... open up Crystal Tile 2 and browse the unpacked ROM folder, open up an .narc file or any of the numbered files in those numbered folders in the "a" folder. For this tutorial, I'm using the file in a\0\2\6.

Step 3: The Sub menu will appear, which contains a list of different files. Then you'll see a verity of files shown there, make sure you export the .NCGR the .NSCR and the .NCLR files when doing so. Just right click the file and click Export. Note that some files may be compressed, the compressed files have the extention .l on them, so they'd be like .NCGR.l, for the compressed files, you will need to Uncompress them by right clicking then clicking "Uncompress".

Step 4: Once the files have been exported or uncompressed, then open up the .NCGR file with Crystal Tile 2, once it's opened, click the picture icon, which is the tile editor. Now... once you've clicked on tile editor, you'll notice there's alot of green and black specs displayed, you'll have to fix it, right? In the properties tab in the tile properties area, where it says "Tile form", change it from solid 1bpp to GBA 8bpp. Now you'll see a scrambled up image looking in some shape. However... there is a problem, the colours are incorrect.

NOTE: Deppending on what image you're using, the format may vary. Usually most are GBA 4bpp or GBA 8bpp.​

Step 5: Click on the palette tab, then click on the import button and select the .NCLR file that you exported earlier, now you'll see the image in proper colours. But... it's still scrambled, oh dear!

If your image has different colours on it, you might wanna edit the NCLR file with consoleTool_v30 (which I find is easier editing palettes than Crystal Tile 2).​

Step 6: To fix up the image... in the tile property area, click the drop down box where it says "image pattern" and change it from Tile to ObjH-1234 or ObjV-1234, deppends on what image you're editing. In this tutorial, I'm using ObjH-1234 for editing the title screen. Now... here's the tricky part, you must change the width, height and byte jump numbers in the Tile property area... and sometimes Crystal Tile 2 can crash while you're changing it with the ↑ and ↓ arrow keys while you've got the numbers selected. It's best to make sure there's only one tile in the grid, which can be decreased by making the width and height a pretty large number. For this tutorial, I made the title screen under the byte jump of 48, the width of 256 and the height of 144. Once it's done successfully, you'll notice the image perfectly working.

Step 7: Alright, now that you've got the image fitting perfectly, it's time to insert the image you'd like to replace the image that is currantly being used. To do that, click on import button (the button with the page and an arrow going down) or click Edit > Import image. Select the image you'd like to replace, then the image appears on the picture. Double click the image you've imported, if it disappears... you'll need to change the canvas size of your imported image using Paint.NET, change it to a size that fits the same width and hight as the image that is being used in the game. Once it's successfully in, save it!

NOTE: If you're using a bigger image, you'll need to add some 00 values to the file using a hex editor that allows you to insert more values rather than editing them, I used Sterling for that.​

Step 8: Now... to test the image, create a folder, but first... copy and paste the folder "NDS_UNPACK" somewhere else. OK and now create a new folder then put in the overlay folder from Pokémon Black/White and all of it's contents in the new folder you created, make sure the arm7, arm9, banner, header, y7 and y9 are placed in the new folder as well and create a folder, name it "data" and put in the NCGR, NSCR and NCLR files in the data folder. Once you've done that, make sure the folder is named "NDS_UNPACK", otherwise DSBuff will not recignise it when you copy and paste the folder to replace the NDS_UNPACK that was there. After that, pack the ROM and name it to anything. I named it "titlescreen-test.nds". After that, open up Tahaxan and open up the ROM and check out the image and see if the .NSCR file is working properly with the other two files.

NOTE: As you can see, I tried inserting a bigger image than the original, so it came out wrong when the NSCR was in effect.​

Step 9: If things are working out alright for you, then open up Crystal Tile 2 and open up the .narc file you were using previously. The Sub menu will appear. Now right click the file you wish to replace... and right click and then click import (or Compress if you're importing a file that was once compressed). Now select the NCGR, NSCR and NCLR files and import (or compress if it was compressed before) each one into the NARC file.

Step 10: Copy the backed up NDS_UNPACK folder and paste it into the dsbuff folder, which you always will have upon using DSbuff. Open up DSbuff and click "Pack" and save it anywhere you'd like.

Here's how mine turned out at the time. Oh well... that was 2 years ago, but now things have changed. I know how to edit NSCR files now, this tutorial will explain how to edit NSCR. Anyways, you can still view that screenshot of my failure at the time. lol

Anyways, thanks for reading! Hopefully this tutorial will come in handy for anyone who wishes to know how to edit the graphics. ^^

 

[Tetra]

Cool! I've also editeed the title screen!

 

[X-Lan]

I wonder why no one has taken notice to this awesome guide...

Anyway, thanks Platinum Lucario, this is very helpful information and well structured guide. Great effort! :D

 

[Platinum Lucario]

Just to let everyone know, I've fixed some of the errors in the tutorial. And just to note, the format of the image can vary, most of them are either GBA 4bpp or GBA 8bpp.

Thank you TeamFail for letting me know about the post. ^^

 

[Fire Blazer]

if anyone knows about how to adjust the NSCR files so that it wouldn't have that problem like as in the screenshot below, please PM me! Because I'd actually like to learn how to edit the NSCR files.

I know how to edit .sc files (that's what they're called in Fire Emblem, the series I hack) but it's complex. However if you're smart and willing to learn I can teach you and you can make a tutorial for the Pokemon hacking community with respect to Pokemon or something.

 

[Oxnite]

A problem occurs when I try to edit the title screen..

Step 7: (...) Select the image you'd like to replace, then the image appears on the picture. Double click the image you've imported, if it disappears... you'll need to change the canvas size of your imported image using Paint.NET, change it to a size that fits the same width and hight as the image that is being used in the game. Once it's successfully in, save it!

So during step 7, I first export the image, make a very small edit and then I import the image again -- which means the new image has the same dimensions as the original sprite. (I both tried importing it as .BMP and .PNG but that shouldn't make any difference, right?)

However, when I double click on the image, it still disappears, even though it has (I guess) correct dimensions. The following sentence shows up: ''By the alignment will be 256X144-bit maps, cut into blocks of bricks:256X144.''

EDIT: Still no reaction.. Too bad.
However, I tried to export the image and then immediately import it again (without any changes), and it still says that the image should have other dimensions!
How weird is that?!

Thanks for helping.

 

[jvpski3]

Man, thanx!!!

Z
Z

So, dude, can we also use hacked OTHER ones?

A problem occurs when I try to edit the title screen..



So during step 7, I first export the image, make a very small edit and then I import the image again -- which means the new image has the same dimensions as the original sprite. (I both tried importing it as .BMP and .PNG but that shouldn't make any difference, right?)

However, when I double click on the image, it still disappears, even though it has (I guess) correct dimensions. The following sentence shows up: ''By the alignment will be 256X144-bit maps, cut into blocks of bricks:256X144.''

EDIT: Still no reaction.. Too bad.
However, I tried to export the image and then immediately import it again (without any changes), and it still says that the image should have other dimensions!
How weird is that?!

Thanks for helping.

That means you are missing a file, a .dll file, or your computer is too weak :(.

You're welcome.

Also, Oxnite, get some .dll files at https://dll-files.com/. Here you go.

 

[Platinum Lucario]

Update: It's time to reveal that I now know how to edit NSCR files, I have updated the first post in this thread to show the link to my tutorial on how to edit NSCR files. And this completes the whole detail on how to completely change the screen graphics.

 

[pokedicky]

when i try editing, i save it, but allways the old title screen stays, can someone please tell me what i am doing wrong?

 

[zzzzzzzz]

I can't seem to replace the original pokemon black usa title screen with my own custom one. I was wondering if you could figure out why. I've attached a zip archive that has the original uncompressed ncgr file, a bmp palette for my image, and the image that I want to use. Also, if you could make an nclr palette that matches the bmp palette that would be great.

I know that my image is the same size as the original title screen image, but for some reason, when I double-click my image after I imported it, it disappears.

 

[Trifindo]

Really good tutorial! ;)
It helped me a lot.

I have one question, ¿Is it possible to edit .NSCR files?

Thanks. :D

 

[Shadow67]

How do i change my language of crystal tile 2 to english? (Its in japanese which i cant read)

 

[gicavac8]

Thanks for sharing this info.