[ArkthePieKing]

Ahoy gents and ladies. I'm no stranger to .ips patches and how to use them, but for some reason this one is giving me a lot of trouble. I'm trying to use the Golbez patch found here http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/850/

but for some reason I can't get it to work. The ROM works fine on it's own, and I downloaded NSRT to confirm that it's an unheadered copy of v1.1 (it says header: none so I would assume that's what it means). The ROM works fine on it's own, but it's just a black screen either through SNES9x's soft patching feature or through a hard patch with lunar IPS. Any idea what I could possibly be missing? Also apologies if this is the wrong place to post this. I wasn't sure where else to post it, but help is appreciated!

[mz]

"I have an SNES patch, and it doesn't work! What do I do?": http://www.romhacking.net/faq/?page=faq#question4.

In other words, as the readme file says, you need to add a header before patching.

[puzzledude]

If you take a look at the "Patching information" in the left column, it says "Header (Snes)", which means the original rom is required to have the header. And the CRC (probably without the header, since it says "unmodified Rom Crc and not file Crc) must be CRC32: EE345FBD.

This submission was also kind enough to name the Crc of the Patch applied (which any submission should have): 229DDF9D.

You can verify the Crc in snarfblams ID hasher:
http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1002/

And for adding or removing the Header it is better to use Tush:
http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/608/

[ArkthePieKing]

Oh my god I'm an idiot. In the instructions in the readme it says "unaltered copy of..." and I read that as unheadered for some reason. Sorry for the blatantly obvious question there. I really didn't mean to waste anyone's time like that.

[Quick Curly]

It doesn't hurt to ask, just to be sure.

Not to just butt in the topic like this, but since it seems like there have been quite a few topics lately related to patching questions, much like there is now a pinned topic in Gaming Discussion, "Does anyone know what game this is?", perhaps there could be a similar topic for patching questions to prevent a whole bunch of similar threads?

Examples still currently on page 1 of the Newcomer's Board, including this one now:

• Problem with the patch
• Linux: Patching Super Mario World

Though it might not be necessary. Just a random thought.
There's no given that it would prevent people from making individual threads anyway (like how we see the occasional personal introduction thread ) and it might not get enough regular activity to warrant existing.
Readme files can also make sure to be clear and informative enough to provide the specific patching details. Not to say that they aren't, but there might be readme files out there that aren't.

[KingMike]

Is it still safe to assume that 99% of Super Mario World hacks require a US headered ROM?

[Revenant]

Probably, since Lunar Magic still expects ROMs to be headered (and will apparently will now add a header automatically to ROMs that don't have one).

I have no idea why it still does, since SNES copier headers haven't actually had any useful purpose (other than making distributing patches a hassle) for more than 15 years at this point, but that's probably a discussion for somewhere else.