[Other] Hello

[shawnee]

I am interested in Pokemon ROM hacks. I have played many that are posted on this website and I am curious on where to begin. Also, I have tried out a few of the hacking tools and I think that they are over my head. Can someone explain where to start as a hacker and tell me what tools are the easiest to use for a new person. Any help or support is appreciated.

 

[Rayce]

I'm not a hacker(yet) or anything but I have seen almost ever ROM hacker use the Hacked mew tools. The ones I've used are easy, organized and look professional(not that that really matters).
As for where to start I cannot be as helpful with that, but I'd figure that you should start off using the original tiles and do simple things like starter changes and pokemon stat changes

I'm not a hacker(yet) or anything but I have seen almost ever ROM hacker use the Hacked mew tools. The ones I've used are easy, organized and look professional(not that that really matters).
As for where to start I cannot be as helpful with that, but I'd figure that you should start off using the original tiles and do simple things like starter changes and pokemon stat changes

 

[Neo Duality]

First off, learn how HEX works. It's not that hard. After that, try to learn a nice, light interpreted programming language like Python or Ruby. Fool around your ROM with this knowledge, and you won't need any of the said HackMew tools. Anyone who uses these tools and doesn't know how they work is not a hacker.

 

[Johto_legend]

the tools were made to reduce the need to learn a programming language, though much editing can be done through only HEX. your definition of a hacker is someone who understands the inside(programming) of the rom, whereas many people think it is someone who is able to modify the roms. your definition is not wrong but people are still hackers if they use the tools, the tools are just to make things easier. anyways, id start of with a storyline and a world map. the storyline will help you understand and know what you want in your hack (meaning scripts), and the worldmap will help you organize and get an idea for your mapping. from there i would suggest you map a percentage( 1 or 2 towns) of your hack and try do make a couple scripts. that would help you get the feel of how things work. you should check out the tutorial thread though, its really helpful for beginners.

 

[altariaking]

First off, learn how HEX works. It's not that hard. After that, try to learn a nice, light interpreted programming language like Python or Ruby. Fool around your ROM with this knowledge, and you won't need any of the said HackMew tools. Anyone who uses these tools and doesn't know how they work is not a hacker.

Ok, this is really starting to piss me off. He is a beginner hacker, and you are telling him to start from one of the hardest parts of hacking. NO. You do NOT get good at hacking from starting at the end, you get good from starting at the BEGINNING. I am so sick of people coming and telling everyone else how to do their hobby, and yes, technically it is still hacking, because the data in the rom is still being edited. So you just made one fail of a post.

First of all, download tools like Advance map and XSE. Read some tutorials, and mess around with them for a while. Then, when you get used to them, THAT is when you move on to hex.

 

[Orinjmate]

Ok, this is really starting to piss me off. He is a beginner hacker, and you are telling him to start from one of the hardest parts of hacking. NO. You do NOT get good at hacking from starting at the end, you get good from starting at the BEGINNING. I am so sick of people coming and telling everyone else how to do their hobby, and yes, technically it is still hacking, because the data in the rom is still being edited. So you just made one fail of a post.

First of all, download tools like Advance map and XSE. Read some tutorials, and mess around with them for a while. Then, when you get used to them, THAT is when you move on to hex.

You couldn't be more right. I completely agree with everything you just said lol. When I started out I just used advancemap and Hackmew's tools to mess about with the game. Then when I got better I learnt how to script using XSE. Then I learnt about how to change the graphics.

 

[Quilava's Master]

Ok, this is really starting to piss me off. He is a beginner hacker, and you are telling him to start from one of the hardest parts of hacking. NO. You do NOT get good at hacking from starting at the end, you get good from starting at the BEGINNING. I am so sick of people coming and telling everyone else how to do their hobby, and yes, technically it is still hacking, because the data in the rom is still being edited. So you just made one fail of a post.

First of all, download tools like Advance map and XSE. Read some tutorials, and mess around with them for a while. Then, when you get used to them, THAT is when you move on to hex.

[rant]Oh sweet Arceus not this argument again. I still don't get why people feel the need to make people who use tools feel like they're not hackers; it's ridiculous! You start off and gradually improve. I personally started using every tool imaginable. Now I know how to HEX Edit but I still use a few tools. Why? Because this isn't my career! With that being said if theres a way to make Rom Hacking easier then I'll use it.[/rant]

On Topic: OP you should start with A-Map, XSE, YAPE, UnLz, NSE. These are pretty much the most basic of basic tools. With those alone you can produce a pretty solid hack. You should read a scripting tutorial (like diegoisawesome's). I won't say use a mapping tutorial since those are basically someone telling you what your imagination should look like, but you should look at a few other Rom Hacks to get an idea of how maps shouldn't look. Then maybe in a few years you can move on to HEX if that's what you wanna do, it isn't that hard but not totally mandatory if you're looking to just have some fun with Rom Hacking.

Ps: I quoted Altariaking because I agree with everything he said.

 

[colcolstyles]

Neo Duality, the Beginner's Lounge rules state that bringing up ASM is going too far. I believe that mentioning any type of programming (regardless of whether it's in a low- or high-level language) is too much for this forum. You're better off posting over in Research & Development.

With that said, let's try to get this back on the topic at hand. There are plenty of places to discuss the definition of "hacking" but this isn't one of them.

 

[shawnee]

Ok, this is really starting to piss me off. He is a beginner hacker, and you are telling him to start from one of the hardest parts of hacking. NO. You do NOT get good at hacking from starting at the end, you get good from starting at the BEGINNING. I am so sick of people coming and telling everyone else how to do their hobby, and yes, technically it is still hacking, because the data in the rom is still being edited. So you just made one fail of a post.

First of all, download tools like Advance map and XSE. Read some tutorials, and mess around with them for a while. Then, when you get used to them, THAT is when you move on to hex.

I am a Female lol. Thanks for all this, I can barely figure out the easier of the tools let alone learn something as complicated as HEX. I am only hoping to learn now so that later I can start on a hack one day. Now I am enjoying playing the ones that are created on here.

 

[NintendoBoyDX]

Small hex info:

Spoiler:

Truly.
Myth: Hex is complicated.
It is just another system of number storage.
In decimal we have: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 (10 single digits)
In hex we have: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F(16 single digits)
In decimal the single digit hex values are:
0(0), 1(1), 2(2), 3(3), 4(4), 5(5), 6(6), 7(7), 8(8), 9(9), A(10), B(11), C(12), D(13), E(14), F(15)
Now because a byte is a two digit hex number you just have two hex digits. A converter can help you with that(for example hex EE = 238 decimal.
Hex is symbolized as 0x EXAMPLE: 0xEE = 238.
Hex can span up to any amount, but the most common, especially with pokemon hacking for gba is:
byte: 2 hex digits EX: d8
half-word: 4 hex digits : 8e76
word: 8 hex digits : 7fef7889

If you search up a hex tutorial on google, I guarantee anyone can "learn" it.
Good luck

 

[shawnee]

Ummm that is VERY complicated lol

 

[miksy91]

Ummm that is VERY complicated lol

Did you really take your time reading it ?
Sounds like you took a second or two checking the message and completely ignored it.
That's no way to learn...

You can actually compare hacking with mathematics.
If you can't be patient enough to read a couple of pages of a mathematical book with new information that you don't know, and study it so that you'd get almost 100% score of a test of that subject, you won't be able to learn to hack either.

What hacking takes is patience and desire to learn.
Take a look at the post again and read it carefully - shouldn't be that hard to understand it.

Edit:
0xEE = 238

0xE = 14
0xEE = 0xE0 + 0xE = 0xE * 0x10 + 0xE = 224 + 14 = 238

That's how hexadecimal numbers are converted into decimal system.
0x in front of a number means that the number is in hexadecimal system.

For example
0xA = 10
0x10 = 16

 

[Beechlgz]

1) Everyone understands mathematics on a different level. Some see numbers and formulas as neat and useful symbols for wherever it is they're trying to figure out.

Others see numbers and formulas as a bunch of weird symbols that mean nothing except for the values that they produce, and can't form the relationship between the processes and values and whatever they're supposed to symbolize.

Some can't even figure out what a mathematical formula is even supposed to do.

Everyone is at different levels of mathematical understanding. For some, the task: "read a couple of pages of a mathematical book with new information that you don't know, and study it so that you'd get almost 100% score of a test of that subject" is something that may take them weeks to accomplish. For others it could be done in a single night. It has less to do with patience and more to do with your ability and level. Some people just don't comprehend maths that well.

If it would take you weeks, well, you're probably better off starting at a much easier level and working up. If it's something you don't have to do and it would take you weeks, you're probably better off investing your time in something you can be more productive at.

2) There's no need to pride yourself on calling yourself a "hacker". Likewise, people shouldn't feel put off tools just because they won't be regarded by others as a "hacker". It's a label, nothing more. If part of your prospective career or major interest is to learn programming and things like that, then yes, you're probably better off learning to hack the more direct way and learn programming languages and the like since it's good preparation for the real computing world for a young student (part of being a programmer is learning to learn new languages quickly). But if it's purely a hobby, and the things in your "hack" don't require that you delve into the deeper parts of hacking, and the tools provide all you need, why bother learning the languages and abandoning the tools? It's meant to be fun, a creative exercise, not a chore. Don't get sucked into the whole pride aspect if you're just in it for the enjoyment, that's my advice. So, just download a few tools if that's the way you want to go, and start experimenting and trying out the tutorials in the tutorial section.

3) I advise that your first hack be a total mess. Don't try to make your very, very first hack perfect. You will break it and you'll break it good. Get a feel for whatever method you choose, whether it be tools or more direct methods. Just mess around with everything, learn what works and better yet learn what doesn't work. You'll maybe go through a few rom copies before you start to make something stable and that doesn't crash.

4) Just have fun with it and don't let anyone put you down about how they want your game to be! I mean, try to make your game tasteful, complete, relatively bug-free and free of spelling errors as you can before you present it to the world. But ultimately it's yours. If others don't like it, don't let it get you down or put you off. Don't concentrate too hard on what others want in a hack. Input from others is good, but too much and you'll be muddled up on what to do and what not to. Imagine instead what you would want to see in a hack.