The Path to Being an Elite Hacker
Step 1: Choosing your ROM
No Previous Steps | Home | Planning the GameGreetings and welcome to the first step towards greatness, followers of the path! The first thing we'll do is talk about which ROM may/may not be correct for you, because I'm sure any Pokémon fan knows that if you want to hack a game you have a lot of choices. I'll be sorting this by generation to make this easier for myself.
[alink id="one"]Gen. I[/alink id] | [alink id="two"]Gen. II[/alink id] | [alink id="three"]Gen. III[/alink id] | [alink id="four"]Gen. IV[/alink id] | [alink id="five"]Gen. V[/alink id] | [alink id="six"]Gen. VI[/alink id]
[alink id="what"]Which should I choose?[/alink id]
[alink id="why"]Why I chose FireRed[/alink id]
[a id]one[/a id][alink id="what"]Which should I choose?[/alink id]
[alink id="why"]Why I chose FireRed[/alink id]
Gen. I
Generation 1 is the first series of games that came out way back in the day and all the games were glitchy and in black and white. But, there is something really nice about hacking Gen. 1 games: the disassembly. That's right, both Red and Blue have been completely disassembled meaning you can modify anything in them (within hardware limitations), given you have the right knowledge.Pros
- Completely disassembled! All you need is a text editor and paint.
- You can hack on any OS
- An active community (Skeetendo)
- It's got that nostalgic power
Cons
- Just because it's disassembled doesn't mean it's easy.
- You MUST know the assembly language of the Gameboy.
- It takes a lot of practice to get good.
- Mapping is currently very complicated.
- There are some GBC-color projects, but the games are greyscale.
So if you're thinking about hacking of the Gen. 1 games just be aware that you've got a lot of learning to do before you can do anything amazing.
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Gen. II
The Generation 2 games consist of Gold, Silver and Crystal, which were played on GBC. They were at one time much more popular with hackers than they are today. But don't let that turn you away, Gen. 2 hacking has a lively community if you look for it.Pros
- That nostalgia factor
- A helpful community (Skeetendo)
- A disassembly of Crystal is in the works
- Has a pretty simple scripting system
Cons
- You need to know hex editing
- Assembly knowledge will become necessary eventually
- Hacking has a bit of a learning curve
- Older games, with 4 color sprites (which may be a plus for some)
The Gen. II games are great for both a determined beginner and experienced hackers that want a taste of what the older generations of the games were like. But, they're not for everyone.
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Gen. III
I'm going to spend the most detail here, because the Generation 3 games are the most popular choices for hackers around these parts. First, some overall pros and cons, and then an in-depth look into your game choices.Pros
- Very popular with the users
- Lots of research has been put into GBA hacking
- There are numerous tools available
- The "easiest" to get into hack (though no hacking is truly easy)
- ROMs are easily expanded
- RTC (real time clock) code is available for all the games
- There are some really nice ROM bases which can do a lot of work for you (we'll talk about these later)
Cons
- The games are on the GBA, so most sprites only have 16 colors
- No 3D. Ever. It's not going to happen.
Ruby
Pros
- A beloved classic
- Lots of wonderful hacks have been made for it before
- There are some old but quite useful tools only for Ruby (FontEd, I'm looking at you)
- Lots of free space available
- The RTC
- Berry System
- Contests
Cons
- Those ASM masters will tell you that Ruby's coding is nightmarish
- It has fallen out of popularity with the community, so not many experts are active anymore
- No expanded Pokémon -- it's not doable with the way the memory is set up
- The 12th tileset palette cannot be used unless a few hex edits are made (which are very simple)
FireRed
Pros
- The most popular within the community
- Lots of research has been done, especially recently -- knizz has a database that completely documents all the code in the ROM
- Nearly every tool on this site for GBA supports FireRed
- Lots of free space
- Coding is cleaner than Ruby
- Expand nearly everything
- Lots of ASM routines are available for you
- Mega Evolution
- Some pretty useful ROM bases
- Support for up to 4 region maps
- There is a nice RTC that can be inserted
- Everyone hacks FireRed -- if you have a problem, someone else probably has too
Cons
- Everyone hacks FireRed -- if you're looking to be unique, it can be tough
- FireRed lacks some of the exclusive features of Emerald (like tag team battles)
- No Pokémon Contests
Emerald
Pros
- Animated Pokémon
- Double battle trainers and tag team battles
- All the songs of both Ruby and FireRed
- Has been growing in popularity
- A decent number of ASM routines are available
- Expanded stuff (like Pokémon) is not tool-based yet, and will require some work
- The Battle Frontier!
- Contests!
- RTC!
- Fancy styled area name boxes
- Has a smaller primary tileset and larger secondary tileset, which may be what you need
Cons
- Not much freespace compared to the others (though this can easily be fixed by expanding the ROM)
- Some tools use the wrong data for freespace, and this cannot be fixed (which can result in music being corrupted)
- A lot of FireRed research can be applied to Emerald, but you'll have to find offsets for it on your own
Sapphire/LeafGreen
Now, there is nothing wrong with either LeafGreen or Sapphire. In fact, they basically have the same pros and cons as FireRed and Ruby respectively. The only issue is that back when people first started this whole researching thing, FireRed and Ruby were more popular (and this has stuck). So, while the coding is nearly the same as their counterparts, LeafGreen and Sapphire have different offsets for a lot of the data. Any hacker will need to be aware of this, and may have to do some searching of their own in order to adapt ASM routines and the like.So which of these do you pick? Right now the obvious answer may seem to be FireRed or Emerald, but really all that matters is which version appeals most to you. Selecting a less popular choice simply means you'll have more work to do for yourself.
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Gen. IV
Ah, Generation 4. Its games include Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver. DS hacking has always been slowly developing over the years, but it's finally getting close to being ready for serious hacking. I just hope you have 3D modeling skills. As far as picking between the games, while HGSS has different scripting than DPPt, they both have similar principles.Pros
- It's Gen. IV
- 3D graphics yo
- There have been a lot of small tools developed for it (trainer editors, Pokémon editors, etc.)
- Theoretically, a full hack could be made
- The DS ROM format allows for adding as much content as you want (within memory constraints)
- Adding basic events is very doable
Cons
- DS hacking can be very complex for beginners
- There are a lot of special data formats you'll need to learn about (for example, NARCs)
- Mapping is very difficult and requires 3D modeling skills
- Not many users here are skilled in this generation of hacking
So while it is possible to make a full hack, unless you're wanting to seek out help else where and do a lot of work on your own, Gen. 4 may prove to be too much for you. Not recommended for beginners.
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Gen. V
While you may think Gen. V hacking must be the same as Gen. IV hacking, you are sadly mistaken. Gen. IV did more than introduce a ton of gameplay changes, it also introduced a lot of behind the scenes changes that make adapting Gen. IV tools to Gen. V very difficult.Pros
- You would be hacking the games that are arguably the best of the series
- There has been a very popular set of Gen. V hacks
- Basic tools do exist
- The same advantages the DS ROM format provides to Gen. 4.
- Seasons
Cons
- Like with Gen. 4 hacking, there are not many Gen. 5 experts on PokéCommunity
- Mapping is much harder than in Gen. 4 because of the new format and lack of specialized tools
- Scripting is done by hand
So when it comes to Gen. V hacking, you'll have an even harder time than you did with Gen. IV. Not recommended for beginners.
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Gen. VI
I'm just going to come out and say that most people don't even have ROMs for Generation 6 yet (let alone an emulator) so hacking knowledge (here at least) is close to nothing. You're better off not even considering Gen. 6 right now. Unless you're really hardcore. Then don't let me stop you. ^^[a id]which[/a id]
So Which Game Do I Chose?
The choice really comes down to what you feel most comfortable hacking. If you want to try hacking Pokémon Black, no one can stop you. In fact, I encourage it! Nothing was ever learned without trying. But, you should always consider the factors. Will you be able to accomplish everything you want? Will it be too hard to do? Will you need help but not be able to find it (a big one)? Do you have the skills needed (or the ability to learn them)? Try and keep these things and more in mind.[a id]why[/a id]
Why Am I (Hopeless Masquerade) Choosing FireRed!?
Well if you read the pros and cons of FireRed, you'll see that FireRed is a pretty popular and easy choice for a beginner (like a lot of you) to work with. It has a lot research, lots of tools available, and it has the support of the community (right now, support tends to come and go). FireRed may no be my first choice all the time (I like to work with LeafGreen), but since it's the most popular it's perfect for a basic hack.Conclusion
Well, I hoped this first lesson helped give you a few ideas about what you can do with each ROM. And I hope I haven't scared you off of another! I'll see you next time, when I begin planning the hack itself. :)
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