Tools

[Zach]

What would one need (other then a FAQ) to learn how to hack and what tools are required?

[Charon]

Well, it depends on what game you're hacking. I'm going to assume Golden Sun.

You'll want to have Atrius's Golden Sun Editor for that. He's still working on it, but you can currently change Monsters and Items, and a few other things too. You can also view sprites and stuff like that.

General Hacking Programs include Hex Editors, Tile Viewers and Palatte editiors. With the first two, I really wouldn't want to touch a rom if you're only starting, because you could really screw something up. Palatte editors aren't so bad and typically allow you to search for a palatte, for example, the blonde in Sheba's hair, to change it to green like so:


Unfortunately, Golden Sun does not have many hacking programs, and the compressed data isn't even viewable in Unlz.gba...

[Zach]

what if i wanted to help out on the editor? or should i wait about 2-3 months after i get famaliarized with hacking. is the hex editor free?

[Atrius (He/Him)]

Hex Editors are free, my Golden Sun Editor is free.

Charon, Ah you found portrait palettes.  They're all 16 colors, and the portrait data (Though compressed) Is always immediately after them.

[Zach]

aah okay. how much space would it take up?

[MaxiPower]

aah okay. how much space would it take up?

erm there not big. maybe a few megabytes if im correct.

just out of interest have you downloaded Atrius Golden Sun Editor

[Zach]

yes i have. editing the weapons is kinda fun o_O and i don't know why o_O

[weckar]

Hex Editors are free, my Golden Sun Editor is free.

Charon, Ah you found portrait palettes.  They're all 16 colors, and the portrait data (Though compressed) Is always immediately after them.

Did you figure out the exact colour limitations on the portraits yet, by any chance? I mean, 15 colours + transparent, but is there a limitation on which 15?

[Atrius (He/Him)]

They each have their own palette, so no limitation.

[Nicktallica]

There are many hacking programs on other sites. But, it depends which game you are wishing to edit.
If you want to hack/edit Pokemon games, I would suggest pokecommunity.com .
If you want to hack Sonic the Hedgehog games, go to sonicretro.org. (tons of great hacks there)

But, I don't want to drive you away from our wonderful Golden Sun Hacking community. ;D

[Charon]

They each have their own palette, so no limitation.

It's a good idea to keep in mind that a ton of colors are used in the face, though... so if, for example, you wanted to change Ivan or Sheba, be careful because you might end up getting funky skin colours lol.

But yeah, hacking GS is pretty tough, but Atrius's program is definately a must have.

And I can't wait for the next release.

[Salanewt]

Actually, with UNLZ.GBA and some decompression tools (like Lunarcompress for SNES), you might be able to get UNLZ.GBA to show the graphics properly.

I forget where, but I did find a tutorial. However, that tutorial was talking about SNES... Still though, some things in there might apply to GBA. I will try to find out more information, but I have some family members coming soon, and I will not be able to stay on.


Have a nice day.

[Atrius (He/Him)]

Actually, with UNLZ.GBA and some decompression tools (like Lunarcompress for SNES), you might be able to get UNLZ.GBA to show the graphics properly.

Nope, GS is annoying, it has it's own compression formats.  Several of them in fact.

[Salanewt]

Oh wow, I didn't know that. Still though, I have hardly hacked anything before...
The closest that I have come would be either Pokemon games, or Mario games.

Unless you count using Action Replay codes in Fire Emblem DS to teleport people on top of each other... I might give some of my codes to people if I am asked.


Have a nice day.