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This FAQ will hopefully explain
the basics of rom editing, mainly for TSB (but also useful
for other roms). Before you begin editing, you should download
a hex editor, tile editor and have an emulator and rom. Nesticle
itself has a built-in tile editor as well, which I will get
into later. I will not talk about the TSB managers because
they should be self-explanatory for anyone. They are Windows-based
and very simple to use. To make a patch (.IPS) file of your
changes, you must use the Nes/Snes tool. Choose "create
.IPS" to make a patch, and choose "use .IPS"
to use a patch on an unzipped rom (.NES).
***Before you use hex or tile
utilities, BACK UP your roms***
A hex editor may be used to edit
text in a rom. For example, you could change TSB so that it
says "Daunte Culpepper" in the intro movie instead
of "San Francisco 49ers" when showing the quarterback.
To use a hex editor, open it and load the rom in the editor.
Scroll down on the righthand side until you see some text.
You may edit any text to your liking, but in most cases you
must keep the same number of letters in the text that you
are editing, or add spaces if you have fewer letters than
were there before. If you try to input more letters than were
already in the file, you will most likely ruin the rom. For
example, if the hex says . . . NFC CENTRAL . . . and you try
to put in . . . NCAA CENTRAL . . you have put in one character
too many and the game may not work! However, if you had instead
put in . . . NCAA WEST . . . then you have put fewer letters
and one space, which will work. Play around with the hex editor
and you will see what I mean by the amount of letters affecting
the rom. A hex editor can be used to actually change the outcome
of simulation (stats and win/loss records) in the game as
well, for more info on that take a look here.
Editing hex for accurate simulation takes a lot of time and
practice... you've been warned! Hex editors are most popularly
used in the creation of RPG hacks.
Now on to tile editing... tile
editors are programs that extract graphics (tiles) from a
rom, and allow you to edit them to your liking and then put
them back into place. There are different color pallettes
that make up the tiles in a game, a blend of which forms the
variety of colors that you see when you actually play. Editing
the color pallette is a chore. If you change one color, it
will usually change others in the game. Editing tiles themselves,
such as team helmets in TSB, is like putting a puzzle together,
and can be quite frustrating (but it is possible). Nesticle
has a tile editing feature included, which I've found to be
easier to use than a separate tile editor. To use it, open
Nesticle and load your rom. Pause the rom when you want to
edit the screen. From the GUI menu, select "view pattern
table." This allows you to edit the tiles and watch your
work on-screen. The drawback of Nesticle's tile editor is
that it lacks a clipboard for editing. If you have the patience,
editing tiles is achievable... As mentioned before, just back
everything up in case you mess up!
That's all for now. As I learn
more about editing, I will update the page!
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