[Other✓] What Can Hex Editing Allow You To Do?

[BLACKOUT]

Introduction​

Hello Everyone! There's probably many of you out there that are just like me. I'm fully motivated to make a Pokemon rom-hack, and I've done tons of research. I'm comfortable with programs like Advanced Map, YAPE, Advanced Mart, etc. But there's one area that I'm completely overwhelmed by, and I have no clue how to make sense of it.

When I see this

I see random numbers.

But apparently all these numbers mean something.

So that's what I wish to ask everyone.

What possibilities does hex editing open up? What cool things can you do with it??​

Leave your thoughts, answers, and possibilities below. Hopefully people wondering these very same questions will stumble upon this thread one day! Thanks for the help everyone!^^

Mods: If this thread is in the wrong place, help me out ;)

 

[purpleponydash]

There are many possibilities and importance's that hex editing can open up to someone as yourself. For example with scripting in XSE, you would have to convert a pokemon's hex into dec. So let's say we wanted to give someone a Pikachu, and Pikachu's number would be 25 (DEC value). You would have to convert that 25 into hex to succesfully have yourself a pikachu, or else you would end up getting a totally different pokemon.

Another example could also be with items. Let's say you wanted to have a potion. The potions number is 13(DEC value), but you need to convert it from dec to hex to successfully have yourself a potion. 13 from dec to hex is D. So you would have to use the letter D to succesfully have yourself a potion, or else you might end up getting something different.

Other than this, I know that there are different symbols within pokemon, for example the money symbol that use in pokemon, is used in a hex value.

I hope I helped. :)

 

[BLACKOUT]

There are many possibilities and importance's that hex editing can open up to someone as yourself. For example with scripting in XSE, you would have to convert a pokemon's hex into dec. So let's say we wanted to give someone a Pikachu, and Pikachu's number would be 25 (DEC value). You would have to convert that 25 into hex to succesfully have yourself a pikachu, or else you would end up getting a totally different pokemon.

Another example could also be with items. Let's say you wanted to have a potion. The potions number is 13(DEC value), but you need to convert it from dec to hex to successfully have yourself a potion. 13 from dec to hex is D. So you would have to use the letter D to succesfully have yourself a potion, or else you might end up getting something different.

Other than this, I know that there are different symbols within pokemon, for example the money symbol that use in pokemon, is used in a hex value.

I hope I helped. :)

That did help a bit. From the research that I did, I know that hex is used a lot for item identification. I'm wondering how people use it to change fundamental mechanics and what not. For example I think saw that you can make tile animations and such... Maybe I'm mistaken. And the tools. The tools look tough to use..

 

[Mana1]

All the tools you use are basically hex-editors ;). Hex can be used to manipulate images, text and orders of events.

There are limitations in what can be done with just Hex editing though, we have ASM which can further manipulate the data.

 

[BLACKOUT]

All the tools you use are basically hex-editors ;). Hex can be used to manipulate images, text and orders of events.

There are limitations in what can be done with just Hex editing though, we have ASM which can further manipulate the data.

Ah, ASM. that is the one other area that I'm not too familiar with. I will look into that.

So for all intensive purposes, how necessary is hex editing in a hack? Is it possible to work around it? I'm going to try to make a poll for this on the thread.

 

[Mana1]

Ah, ASM. that is the one other area that I'm not too familiar with. I will look into that.

So for all intensive purposes, how necessary is hex editing in a hack? Is it possible to work around it? I'm going to try to make a poll for this on the thread.

I wouldn't say it is 100% essential to making a hack (especially on your first try) but being able to do HEX editing, or understand the basics, will enhance a hack - allowing for little changes here and there that can't be done without knowledge of repointing text, or rearranging information, or tweaking things that tools can't edit themselves.

Most things needed in a hack can be accomplished by tools, though :).

 

[Danny0317]

There are many possibilities and importance's that hex editing can open up to someone as yourself. For example with scripting in XSE, you would have to convert a pokemon's hex into dec. So let's say we wanted to give someone a Pikachu, and Pikachu's number would be 25 (DEC value). You would have to convert that 25 into hex to succesfully have yourself a pikachu, or else you would end up getting a totally different pokemon.

Another example could also be with items. Let's say you wanted to have a potion. The potions number is 13(DEC value), but you need to convert it from dec to hex to successfully have yourself a potion. 13 from dec to hex is D. So you would have to use the letter D to succesfully have yourself a potion, or else you might end up getting something different.

Other than this, I know that there are different symbols within pokemon, for example the money symbol that use in pokemon, is used in a hex value.

I hope I helped. :)

The scripting example you gave is incorrect. If you have the latest XSE you don't have to, as long as you don't put 0x in front of the number.

 

[Alice]

It's absolutely necessary for me. I manage all of my data manually. I manually set all of my trainers and their pokemon data right next to their battle script, and type out all of the text directly with a hex editor. If I wasn't able to do this, I wouldn't still be hacking, because the amount of times that XSE overwrote important data when auto-compiling scripts is insane. I've literally never had a glitch while scripting since I stopped using dynamic offsets/free space finder, and manually input each address.

The only tools I use now are advance map and XSE... and I'm kinda considering trying to memorize the hex values for the XSE commands, so I can just type things directly into the hex editor. Realistically, I doubt it's worth it, but it'd be cool. lol

 

[purpleponydash]

I wouldn't say it is incorrect simply because if you have the newest version of XSE you don't have too. That is just simply how I myself script, my personal preference. But thank you for saying that, since now I realized I only focused on person experience.

 

[BLACKOUT]

I'm loving the feedback! Anyways, I was snooping around advenced map (1.95) and I realized that there is some Hex stuff in the "header" subsections of the maps. Another topic for discussion: How is hex used/involved in the common tools that we all use?

 

[Alice]

All any tool does is change hex values for you. If you know what values they change, you can do anything a tool can do yourself. That's actually kind of all there is to it... the values they change may be different, but behind the scenes, they all do the same thing.

For example, if you knew the location of a map in the rom, you could change the values of each tile, and make a map without needing advance map at all. Of course, that particular example isn't really practical.

The main advantage is knowing what space is free. It doesn't actually matter where you put anything in the rom, as long as whatever is using it points to the correct address. Because of that, things like trainers, which normally only have a certain amount of space allocated for them can be put anywhere in the rom you want, but if you don't use a hex editor, you won't be able to know where is free to put things like that, and won't be able to organize them effectively.