08-20-2012, 09:47 AM
Davy Jones, Maxim, I'm sorry, but in many cases successful ROM hacking requires some prior training.
Learning a little assembly and getting an assembler/disassembler for target platform would be of enormous help - just poking a little chunks of code can do magic, like removing backgrounds (if you replace drawing code with NOPs or jump). Then goes hex editor, because changing a single byte could save you a lot time in Photoshop. I.e. by changing an audio track number in exe, you can record all ingame music, without playing through the game or writing complicated ADPCM decoders.
Tracing memory changes could be done in any emulator by saving snapshot, changing values of interest, then saving again and comparing two snapshots.
Learning a little assembly and getting an assembler/disassembler for target platform would be of enormous help - just poking a little chunks of code can do magic, like removing backgrounds (if you replace drawing code with NOPs or jump). Then goes hex editor, because changing a single byte could save you a lot time in Photoshop. I.e. by changing an audio track number in exe, you can record all ingame music, without playing through the game or writing complicated ADPCM decoders.
Tracing memory changes could be done in any emulator by saving snapshot, changing values of interest, then saving again and comparing two snapshots.