[Other] Recommendations for Getting Back Into ROM Hacking?

[CrossCulturalMudkip]

So, last year during quarantine I took up Pokémon ROM hacking as a hobby and as something for me to do, and while I wasn't amazing at it, I was grasping basic concepts and managed to make an altered version of Emerald (changed-ish story, new characters, new areas, etc). However, once school began in the fall I dropped ROM hacking and now I want to get back into it.

Last time I learned, I followed Anthroyd's ROM Hacking tutorials on Youtube, which were really good as introductory material. I also browsed and read quite a bit of PokeCommunity threads (though I don't remember them much).

Are there any other good resources to help me learn how to get back into ROM hacking, or any better tools I should use? Are there any good threads that serve as introductory material? Anything and everything is greatly appreciated (I'll have time to do lots of reading/researcihng with the semester wrapping up)!

Sidenote: I'll be using a decent-ish Windows laptop to do this if that matters. Hacking on Mac (which is my current, best computer) seems to be a non-starter, or at least very difficult affair from what I've researched.

 

[testtheteam4]

Since you are specifically hacking Emerald, I suggest taking a peek at pret's pokeemerald decomp as well as DizzyEgg's and The RHHO (Rom Hacking Hideout Organization) works which are the item expansion, pokemon expansion and battle engine.

If you want to stay with binary hacking, you can use Fire Red along with Skeli and ghoulslash's CFRU (Complete Fire Red Upgrade) and DPE (Dynamic Pokemon Expansion) [but as a side note the CFRU and DPE features can be ported to a pokefirered decomp via copying the codes].

For binary hacking, the main tools you'll need are Advance Map, (XSE) Xtreme Script Editor and a hex editor like Hex Maniac Advance (HMA)
For working with decomps, the only tools you'll need are Porymap and Poryscript, since all other editing can be done via editing the code (You need to have experience in coding with C or other similar languages though.)

That's all I have to say. Best of luck with your rom hack!