Hockeypanda32's in-depth Rom hacking basics.

Hockeypanda32's knowledge in Pokemon Hacking


Learn how to hack Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Leafgreen, and Firered

First of all, yes you need roms to do this, giving out links is illegal so none of that!

Table of Contents

1. Text Hacking
2. Mapping, and some other things in Advance Map
3. Scripting in XSE

Chapter 1 Text Hacking

What we need

* Advanced text

In this pic a loaded rom of Pokemon firered is in there, all basic speeches are in there now from the game, so look around and find a piece of text you want to change. Click on it and in the textbox to the right its words will appear. Edit these to your liking and be sure to keep the text in the the text border, now click save text, if you need to repoint it press yes, repoint! There you go, your first changed text, play your rom and look at it, all changed!

Advanced text changing, is it not there, time to get in depth!

For in depth text hacking you are going to need an emulator to find exact bits of text, you must have exact punctuation for it to work. Here is a step by step way to do this.

1. Press search, now go into your emulator and find the text you want to change, lets say a pokemon name, look up Bulbasaur.
2. Once you find the text the just says Bulbasaur change it to something like Mostop, if there are any other entries on just Bulbasaur change it.
3. Open up your emulator and go to where you get your first pokemon, choose Bulbasaur, the standard you choose Bulbasaur will still be there.
4. Once you got him, look in your pokemon inventory, no Bulbasaur, you gotta Mostop!
5. Now to change the other text with Bulbasaur in it go back to the search and change everything with Bulbasaur in it to Mostop or w/e you named Bulbasaur!

You can use this for anything, Item's, badges, Pokemon, Attacks, Message's, pokedex descriptions, ETC.

Chapter 2, Mapping, and more in Advance Map

What we need

* Advance Map

Mapping is made easier by Lu-ho's advance Map included above, open up your rom once you have opened A-Map, now on the left there will be three tabs, use the header one, on R/S/E 0 will be the outsides towns, routes, etc. and looking through the rest for others, insides, caves, etc. Choose your map you want to edit and you will see it now on your screen!

After you get the map you want start editing with the tiles you see at the right until you get a fully edited map to your liking, once you play it in game though you will see that the movement permissions are the same as the map before you edited it! In your Advance Map go to the movement permissions tab. In the right now you will see that there are numbers and letters, a lot of them really do not matter though. Here is a list for each of them and what they mean!

1=not passable
C=passable
4=not passable unless you use surf
D=signpost
0=climbing ladders to new levels etc. (read some document on more perm.'s

There are still others but we will not go through those now, those are basically all you need, lets say you have a tree, you would put a 1 on every part of it besides the tips tiles, finish putting in your permissions, wala, you got it...

Palette Editing your tiles in the game

In A-Map on the top of the app there should be a puzzle-like icon called the block editor open it up, now in here there should be a pallete tab, click on it and press "Show Palette Editor". Behind it the block editor will still be there, now go through palettes and see which tiles abide to which palette and change them according to what you want your game to look like, be sure to backup your rom before this incase you edit it bad. Once done press apply after you finish each palette. When you have applied all this go back into the palette editor window and press the tab palletes and click "Apply palette changes"

Edit your Tiles


Once again in A-Map go to the block editor. Now you must go to the palette corresponding to the tile you want to edit! Once you find it go to the pictures tab, click save tileset 1 (tileset 2 is the other tileset), open up the file you saved in Paint now, it should have dib as its extension, you must save it as a dib also! After you are done editing just press save so it and the palette are not mistaken. Back in Advance Map go into the block editor and the pictures tab, press load tileset 0. Once you have loaded it than go back in the pictures tab and press load new blocks, wala, you got it!

Advance Map Main Tabs, Map Editor, Movement Permissions etc.

In the main part of Advance Map there are specific tabs for different jobs.

* Map Editor
Already explained above

* Movement Permissions
Already explained Movement permissions

* Events
Where events are stored, all your scripts will be entered here once you make a new person or replace another events script, people events are of course the people that walk around, signposts, warps, and scripts. For signposts, scripts and person events you must enter your scripts compiled offset, for warps put it over a door of some kind and enter your map bank and no. (explained in connection part) you want it to warp to and the warp event in the map you want it to warp to.

* Wild Pokemon
Self explanatory, change the wild pokemon in the level, change what pokemon they are and change there levels.

* Header Tab
Change the towns name, route whatever. In here you can also chnage the tilesets, I wouldn't ever change the first one and the second one differs, I recommend mixing kind of matching tilesets. you can change dimensions and look at level scripts also.


Connection Manager

Basically you just change where your maps connect to, Offset is probably the hardest part of understanding this...the value entered here means how many tiles the map connecting to this one is delayed. If your connection goes up or down it means how many tiles it is delayed to the left of the map! A negative would make it right. Map bank and Map no. can be found simpily with this method, if your looking at your maps by sorting by header, go to the slected map, lets say it is "Lavender Town (3.5)" You want connected than the map bank would be 3 and the map no. would be 5, same with every map. Making neew connection or deleting them can be done simpily because the app pretty much guides you it self!

Chapter 3, XSE Scripting

What we need

XSE Scripting Tool

Table of Contents

Part 1, Dynamic's
Part 2, Basic Message
Part 3, a yes/no basic script

More to come

Part 4, Flags
Part 5, givepokemon
Part 6, specials
Part 7, movement

To start us off we need to open up XSE and have a blank script tab. Now we may start scripting

Part 1, dynamic's

At the start of any script you must place your dynamic offset to start your script.

A dynamic offset is the hexidecimal your whole script is going to rely on,
Here is how you should place it at the top of your script.

Code:


#dynamic 0x800000


800000 = Your offset, it must be an open offset. Use a free space finder to find your offsets. Advance Map has a built in one.

Part 2, A Basic Message

Now before we start remember to include your dynamic.
After this here we place a line of code that states you are making a new script.

Code:

#ORG @start

Explanations of these 2 words.

#org = the beggining of a new offset.
@start = the name of your offset, replace start with anything you want to call it.

Now if we want this event to work properly as a message from a person we must include these two lines

Code:

lock
faceplayer

Explanations of these 2 words.

lock = you cannot move while script is going
faceplayer = the person faces you

Our next step will be the actual pointer to the message. All we have to type is this...

Code:

Message @tutorial

Explanations of these 2 words.

Message = pointer to a message offset
@tutorial = once again the name of the offset, replace it with whatever your message's offsets are.

^This line of code is neccesary or your script wont ever do anything.

Next we type this to signify wht kind of message it is.

Code:

boxset 6

No need to explain this, now to close of the end of this offset.

Code:


release
end


Here is what we should have so far!

Code:


#dynamic 0x800000 'or any offset there you want it to be thats open

#org @start
lock
faceplayer
Message @tutorial
boxset 6
release
end


Don't get all happy at your first XSE script yet, we still have to make your message say something.

Code:


#org @tutorial
= This is my first script!


Tada, here is the "final" script!

Code:


#dynamic 0x800000 'or any offset there you want it to be thats open

#org @start
lock
faceplayer
Message @tutorial
boxset 6
release
end

#org @tutorial
= This is my first script!


No load your rom in XSE, and press compile. On the pop-up windo press copy, now in Adv-Map make a new person and put the offset you copied in the new person's offset box.

Tada, now we can test it out.

Part 3, is it just me or does it smell like yes/no box time?

Starting us off for a yes/no script we must still place our dynamic offset, our #org @start, and our lock and faceplayer.

You should have this to start off then.

Code:


#dynamic 0x800000

#org @start
lock
faceplayer


Now put in a new message offset pointer, and copy the rest, I will explain everything next.

Code:


message @tutorial
boxset 5
compare LASTRESULT 1
if b_true goto @yes
compare LASTRESULT 0
if b_true goto @no


We know the first line of code but what do the 5 other's mean?

Definitions

boxset 5 = yes/no box popup with message
compare LASTRESULT 1 = basically means if you pressed yes
if 1 goto @yes = they pressed yes and get reverted to a new offset, which is not a message, it cannot be yet
compare LASTRESULT 0 = basically means if you pressed no
if b_true goto @no = they pressed no and get reverted to a new offset, which is not a message, it cannot be yet


Then place a release and an end and here is what we should have so far, the basis offset point

Code:


#dynamic 0x800000

#org @start
lock
faceplayer
message @tutorial
boxset 5
compare LASTRESULT 1
if b_true goto @yes
compare LASTRESULT 0
if b_true goto @no
release
end


Now to place our offsets from the pointer's, lets start out with the messages.

Just like a basic message script and with the pointer provided.
The Message should look like this.

Code:


#org @tutorial
= Yes or no?


Now for the offset pointer's yes and no, let's start with yes.

Code:


#org @yes
message @pressyes
boxset 6
release
end


That looks familiar, well it is. you really just revert to another message or anything you want it to do! Now for no, if you think you can try it yourself dont look!

Code:


#org @no
message @pressno
boxset 6
release
end


Now to make the message's pressyes and no, simple here is what you should get with them!

Code:


#org @pressyes
= You pressed YES!

#org @pressno
= You pressed NO!



here should be your final script!

Code:


#dynamic 0x800000

#org @start
lock
faceplayer
message @tutorial
boxset 5
compare LASTRESULT 1
if b_true goto @yes
compare LASTRESULT 0
if b_true goto @no
release
end

#org @tutorial
= Yes or no?

#org @yes
message @pressyes
boxset 6
release
end

#org @no
message @pressno
boxset 6
release
end

#org @pressyes
= You pressed YES!

#org @pressno
= You pressed NO!


More to Come, parts 4, 5, 6, and 7!

Chapter 4, Flags

Finally the flags tut is here.

Ok lets start off, flags are based off into 3 basics groups

Code:

setflag
checkflag
clearflag

Most of the time you don't see clearflag come up... it is needed sometimes though. You will understand how to use the flags after this!

Lets start with something way simple. Code the normal base to your script from the other parts of the tut.

Code:

#dynamic 0xOFFSET HERE

#org @start
lock
faceplayer

Now for the flags. add these lines of code

Code:

checkflag 0x200
if b_true goto @flag

This is to check if the flag 0x200 is set and if so going to @flag
Now enter a simple message line in.. whatever the message may be just add it after this. After that we will add our setflag, before that here is how far we should be in the script...

Code:

#dynamic 0xOFFSET HERE

#org @start
lock
faceplayer
checkflag 0x200
if b_true goto @flag
Message @hi
boxset 6

Now for the setflag... for flags do not use any number but the flags 200 and up and 900 and up.

Add this line of code now!

Code:


setflag 0x200


now we should have

Code:

#dynamic 0xOFFSET HERE

#org @start
lock
faceplayer
checkflag 0x200
if b_true goto @flag
Message @hi
boxset 6
setflag 0x200


Now end this part of the scrip and now add your message for hi.

Time for the @flag part. before this here is what you should have...

Code:

#dynamic 0xOFFSET HERE

#org @start
lock
faceplayer
checkflag 0x200
if b_true goto @flag
Message @hi
boxset 6
setflag 0x200
release
end

#org @hi
= Hello there.


Now after that add the #org @flag part of this part of the script.

Time for what we want the flag to go to.
Lets make it a message

Code:


#org @flag
message @woot
boxset 6
release
end

#org @woot
= What you want????


Now for the finished product!

Code:

#dynamic 0xOFFSET HERE

#org @start
lock
faceplayer
checkflag 0x200
if b_true goto @flag
Message @hi
boxset 6
setflag 0x200
release
end

#org @hi
= Hello there.

#org @flag
message @woot
boxset 6
release
end

#org @woot
= What you want????

Chapter 5, GivePokemon

The givepokemon script, a very simple one... i won't go in to as much detail as the other sections since you should now know how to add these commands.

The command itself should be Very Very self explanatory. Of course if you did not get it, it gives a pokemon!

Ok now to show you how it works.

Code:


givepokemon [Pokemon no.] [Pokemon lvl.] [item being held] 0 0 0


So here is the code for a level 5 bulbasaur holding nothing.

Code:


givepokemon 1 5 0 0 0 0


There you are, the givepokemon script. I would advise using flags if you use this script to avoid gaining infinite items

POkemon no.'s Thanks TheTheTheThe

Spoiler:

More to Come, parts 6, and 7!

This sure is helpfull. Nice one.