The VG Resource

Is there any way i can use the visual boy advance emulator to rip the full map of a level? I've heard some people were able to do it, but i don't know how.

Open the game you want to rip from and then go to tools > map viewer. Select the background you want to rip and click save. If you're going to rip a full level (platforms and such), then you're going to have to move your character around and repeat the above process. It's that easy! :p

It's actually not that easy in a lot of cases, unfortunately. Sometimes the background will be layered very strangely and one side of it will wrap around to the other side, meaning you have to take it apart and piece it back properly, and even then with some games it does not display the entire map, meaning you'll still have to take screenshots and piece them together. That's the most reliable way. Then there's the thing about it having animated parts. You should try to get every frame possible from the animated objects in the BG if there are any. Believe me it's taxing, but it's well worth it. Having a complete (or as complete as you can get) sheet is a wonderful feeling.
Hope that helps! You could also try Googling around for ripping tools (there is one for Golden Sun 2, as an example). It's not guaranteed or even all that likely you'd find something to help you rip maps easily, but it's worth a try if it means saving hours of hard work, right?

If you're going to rip animated backgrounds, try going into frame throttle and go to a number lower than 1. This will slow down the game speed, making ripping animated backgrounds slightly easier. Hope this helps!

I meant something like this http://www.kirbysrainbowresort.net/games...onmap2.png only without the backgrounds. I wish to know how to rip like this.

My personal approach would be using layering to disable all the layers you don't want, and then screenshotting bits of the level, pasting them together later on to form a single image of the level. That's what I did with London Life, and although I am familiar with VBA, I haven't ripped games with it yet, so unfortunately I can't advise as to where to find certain features such as layer disabling or pausing.

Ohhh I see. You want the level structure without the background? Well, like I said, there isn't really a way to do that besides putting screenshots together or the Map Viewer if it works for you (which may be unlikely considering how KatAM BGs are, but it's worth a try). Sorry I can't be of more help and I hope you can pull it off!

Oh, now I get it. You can try googling for other tools. I'm afraid I can't be of much help. Good luck ripping!

(04-23-2012, 07:39 AM)BlueBlur97 Wrote: [ -> ]If you're going to rip animated backgrounds, try going into frame throttle and go to a number lower than 1. This will slow down the game speed, making ripping animated backgrounds slightly easier.

Hit Ctrl+P to pause the game, then hit Ctrl+N to forward one frame if you want to rip background animations easier.

Since I have quite some experience from ripping a few Lufia GBA maps, I know how hard it can be. I even had to create cheat codes to change some palette colors to make the images from the map viewer usable...
Then there is the mentiones wrapping, maps in the map viewer will often have the right side left and the top at bottom due to effective coding. So you have to cut and realign them properly. In any case, you will have to move the player around the whole room to capture many small pieces you will then have to stich together.

Whoa. I never knew you could do that in VBA! :o

You always could, I just forgot to mention it. It pays to experiment and look through all the different options.