Topic: How would I go about altering one of the NES games?

[Tuxedo Mark]

I've always wanted to make a sequel to Legends, but I really don't know anything about ROM hacking. I don't really mean to do anything grandiose like redesign/create new levels. I mean more like changing sprites, music, hits/damage, etc. Any fairly easy way to do this?

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

If you're just doing a sprite change, you can use TileLayer Pro or YY-CHR to change the sprites in a game.  It works with NES, SNES, and GB, probably even more.

Changing stage layouts requires a stage editor.  "Stake" is the name of an editor for Castlevania 1 (NES), and "ReVamp" is an editor for Castlevania 3 (NES).  I'm not sure if there are others for other systems.
Changing the music is trickier.

[TheouAegis]

ROM Hack until your dick shrivels up and girls no longer know you exist.

http://www.zophar.net/utilities/mod.html

If you want an idea of the process of your dick shriveling up, you can read through my blog. It's specific to Castlevania III and Super Mario Bros. 3, but it might still be helpful. I'm not sure if anyone on this forum has Gameboy hacking experience. If you want to delve into hacking Castlevania III on the NES, my August 11th blog is probably the most thorough documentation. If you plan to really hack into things, NesDev.wiki will be your friend.

[Esco]

www.memoryhacking.com

Download memhack; you can use it to find the stuff that you want to change, and to quite a large extent, try and test them too.

[Las]

Maybe try reVamp.

[Aridale]

I know you specifically asked about changing a rom but my advice would be to just pick up a simple game creation program like Construct 2 and make your own game. It can even be exactly what you wanted to do with the rom hack but youll have way more freedom in what does what and how if you move yourself outside the limits of a rom hack

[Corpsecrank]

I know you specifically asked about changing a rom but my advice would be to just pick up a simple game creation program like Construct 2 and make your own game. It can even be exactly what you wanted to do with the rom hack but youll have way more freedom in what does what and how if you move yourself outside the limits of a rom hack

I would have to agree with this. The problem with a rom is that you are limited to exactly what the system was capable of and it also requires an emulator to play. Distribution of a rom even one you changed entirely is still illegal you would only be able to distribute a patch that could be applied to a rom. I'm not saying you shouldn't bother though changing a rom is a great idea if you want to learn how games actually worked and if you want your game to be super accurate when compared to the originals then this is the best way.

But you can break free from the legal issues and limitations by just grabbing a canned engine that is free there are many and some are more complicated than others. Personally I swear by unity these days because it is so powerful and free but less user friendly. If your not into complicated software use construct classic or construct 2 classic exports as a .exe installed supporting dx 9 and construct 2 is html 5. If you know flash that could also be used to do anything you want.

[Tuxedo Mark]

Well, TileLayer and YY-CHR make the graphics look all jumbled together and useless. They're not even in the right colors. I wish there was something for Castlevania like NWT for Doom.

[Inccubus]

That's because they read the tile data directly from the ROM. That's also why TileLayer has a tile arranger. Not to be rude, but if you can't even invest the time in working with the game's graphics then don't even think about doing a ROM hack.

[TheouAegis]

Ah! I-- er...

*slurks back into his dark corner*

Perhaps we shouldn't tells them about implementing 8x8 tile maps and attribute tables in Game Maker. They would not likes that, no.


Of course the colors aren't right. You obviously don't even have the vaguest idea of how a Nintendo game is made. People really have so little respect for the guy that made reVamp. The amount of shit he had to plumb through just to make that program is mind-boggling. I would know -- my mind is boggled! And some of the values I came up with I only found because of reVamp.


Edit: This thread gave me the idea to maybe write up a program that'd read through a ROM (if you specified the addresses) and draw all the tile assemblies. Would be a pain in the ass, but totally doable... if all developers programmed their tile assemblies the same way. ... Oh wait, never mind, screw that. Not all games used tile assemblies. Some straight up mapped everything out on screen. And I'd have no way of knowing which CHR data to read either. Gah. That reVamp guy must have had no time for masturbation.