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Shade · 08-02-2012, 06:24 PM

I was wondering if it's possible to change the default background color when you disable layers in VisualBoyAdvance?
[Image: ibnQXUD6hm6QP3.png]

puggsoy · (This post was last modified: 08-02-2012, 07:25 PM by puggsoy.)

Here is a thread about it on the VBA-M forums. From what I can understand the developer implemented the feature you're looking for.
You can download VBA-M here, the latest version should have the feature. I haven't used it myself but from what I can see it's basically just some guys who are continuing with developing VBA (since the original project is apparently dead), adding new features and whatnot. Maybe it's got a few more bells and whistles that are handy for sprite ripping, too.

Shade · 08-02-2012, 08:02 PM

Thanks Puggsoy!

I'll check it out! Smile

Garamonde · 08-02-2012, 08:46 PM

To change the background color underneath the layers, go to "Tools > Memory viewer...", and you'll see this window appear.

At first it'll all look really confusing with all those numbers, but don't worry about them too much. That's the game's RAM data, and it's very complicated stuff that hackers mess with when making ROM hacks and so on.

What you want to do now though, is click the dropdown menu up top labeled "BIOS", and you'll see a list of options. What you want to choose here from these options is "PALETTE". After you select PALETTE, you'll see even more numbers.

What you're going to do now is edit these numbers to modify the background color. Don't be afraid though, as this is a pretty simple process that only takes a second or two to do once you get the hang of it. Now, see those numbers in the very top-left corner? Those are the values for the background color in the emulator.

The only ones you should need to change though for most cases are the first two zeroes. Two zeroes makes the color pure black, which is the default for a lot of games, so we obviously don't want them both to be zeroes. All you really need to do is just click on the first zero, and type a number (or alphabetical letter, though keep in mind only A-F will work), such as 1, click back to the emulator to see the changes, and voila, the background is no longer black!

If the colors of the sprite are too similar to the new background color, then play with the two zeroes by typing combinations of numbers and letters until you find a color that contrasts well enough for you to see the sprite. For example, typing A into the first slot will get you this, while typing "F9" will get you this.

You can also get more colors by messing with the next two numbers to the right (like this), but I'd leave that for more difficult situations. Also try not to touch the scroll bar or anything else at the risk of messing something up or losing your place, but if it happens just close Memory Viewer and open it back up.

If you do accidentally change something that messes up something in the game though then you will have to reset the emulator. I recommend making a save state before changing anything so that you can re-load it and everything will revert back to normal. Remember that this change doesn't last forever, and usually wears off when you enter another room so you will have to do it again each time the background reverts back to black. It's very quick to do though and beats cutting the sprites out of the background by hand. Hope this helps (I should post this in the GBA Ripping Tutorial now...)! Smile

Shade · 08-02-2012, 09:55 PM

Woah, that's pretty epic as well!

That will really come in handy for future reference! Big Grin

Garamonde · 08-02-2012, 11:15 PM

Oh, I forgot to mention that any letter after F won't work, so it'll have to be any letter from A to F. Good luck ripping!

Previous · 08-03-2012, 01:17 AM

Whoa Mighty Jetters. I didn't know one could actually change the memory data there, I always went along with cheat codes Tongue

Anyway let me drop in to present a way to get a probably more permanent/fast way.
You know the VBA's cheat thingy? Add as a code:
05000000:5AA2
(Works for any game as it really just sets a memory slot)

That basically does the same as Mighty Jetters method, it changes the first palette slot to a different color. If you don't like 5AA2, change that to something else. 0-9, A-F hexadecimal value.

If you want to change the first palette index of each 16-color palette ramp (background and sprite), use this:

Spoiler

They're really simple, I put them together them back then when I was ripping Lufia graphics by hand.

As for explanations:

AAAAAAAA:VVVV
(probably also VV, VVVVVVVV, ....)

A (8 hex digits 0-9, A-F) is the memory address (ROM data starts at 08000000 by the way) and V (hey digits) is the value that shall be written to the given address.

Garamonde · 08-03-2012, 09:16 AM

And I didn't know you could do it with cheat codes and it made the changes stay!
I'll definitely test this out, thanks Previous! Big Grin

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