[Archived] Hack ideas: for those without the skill but with all the ideas.

[Jorpho]

Hello,

We have a thread for this sort of thing here.

It is quite unlikely anyone will fend to your specific request, however.  You may have to learn how to make the change yourself, but that may be difficult.  Perhaps you should try searching for a suitable Contra fan forum.

[Jorpho]

But Marty never did alchemy.

[MrSeguin]

Thanks for your reply Jorpho.
I've been looking for a while on the net about my request but so far no success:(
Anyway will continue to look around hoping I will finally find something.
And as you said maybe to begin to understand how to made a graphical hack is not a bad thing:)
"on n'est jamais mieux servi que par soi-même" as we say !
Again thanks for your reply and information's.

[KingMike]

He did think Pepsi was something so ubiquitous that it should be dispensed gratuitous.

(seriously, they changed the name because of that joke, and the potential endless free advertising? )

[magictrufflez]

It'd be great to see a hack of Secret of Evermore that turned it into Back to the Future. Picture it: Marty McFly and Einstein are wondering around different time periods in the Delorean looking for Emmett Brown.  Fighting dinosaurs and Roman gladiators, Eventually finding doc and going to the future to beat the shit out of Biff.

The main character kind of already looks like Marty and could be recolored, and the evil scientist guy could be edited into Doc Brown. The music could stay the same, minus maybe the BttF theme thrown into the mix during some impotant bits.

The different time periods linked together they way they are in SoE could be the result of Biff fucking up things in the future, causing scattered timelines to merge together.

I actually think that's part of the (many, many) references the game makes, as you're moving through time in a way (even though technically you aren't).  The Marty McFly vest was the first thing I noticed as a kid--I'm just glad I'm old enough to understand all the stuff that gets parodied in Evermore.

I could live with some kind of difficulty hack (that doesn't go TOO overboard like the one I tried off of here---I power level, and I still get smoked by most everything in the final area) combined with something that makes the endgame a little more satisfying.  The last battle and ending were always my least favorite parts of the game by far, and if someone somehow tweaked them, I would be eternally grateful....

[Bregalad]

Ce genre de hack est extrêmement simple à faire, car les graphiques de Contra (J) ne sont pas compressés (contrairement à ceux de Contra (U) ). Il te suffit de trouver le tile qui fait le projectile de d'en dessiner un plus gros toi-même, à l'aide d'un éditeur de Tiles comme YY-CHR ou TileMolester.

Petite particularité, il s'agit de sprites 8x16, donc il faut utiliser le mode "FC/NES x 16" de YY-CHR (Tile Molester a aussi une option équivalente mais j'ai la flemme d'aller regarder comment elle s'apelle). Modifie les tiles $4E et $4F de la première banque de graphiques et voilà.

Et non, je ne pense pas que quelqu'un d'autre soit intéressé par ce genre de hack "trivial".

[snarfblam]

This kind of hack is extremely easy to do, because the graphics Contra (J) are not compressed (unlike those of Contra (U)). You just have to find the tile that does the projectile to a bigger draw yourself, using a editor like Tiles YY-CHR or TileMolester.

Small feature, it is 8x16 sprites, so you have to use the "FC / NES x 16" YY-CHR (Tile Molester also has an equivalent option but I'm too lazy to go look at how it s' apelle). Changes the tiles $ 4E and 4F of $ the largest bank in graphics and voila.

And no, I do not think anyone else is interested in this kind of hack "trivial."

[MrSeguin]

Merci beaucoup snarfblam !
Avant ta réponse j ai cherché un peu sur le web et j ai telechargé tile layer pro.Apres avoir réalisé que le tile du projectile se trouve dans 2 tiles j ai réussi a l' agrandir!
Par contre le fait que je l ai agrandi modifie aussi la surface de collisions?
Je voulais en fait mettre une auréole rouge autour du projectile des enemis et des tourelles mais la je ne sais pas comment modifier ca et je pense que ca doit etre plus compliqué...
J ai essaye avec yy-chr mais je suis perdu quand tu parles de modifier les tiles $4e $4f de la premiere banque de graphiques(ou elle est cette premiere banque? et $4e ca veut dire quoi?un code de couleur?)...
Enfin quoi qu il en soit merci d éclairer ma lanterne pour ma demande pas vraiment intéressante pour les pros du hacking
A tantot:)
January 08, 2015, 09:44:14 AM - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)
Heu..Merci Bregalad et snarfblam pour la trad google

trad google of the last post:

Snarfblam thank you very much !
Before your answer I have searched the web a bit and I have downloaded tile layer pro.Apres have realized that the tile of the projectile is in 2 tiles I managed al enlarge !
As against the fact that I have it enlarged collisions also modifies the surface ?
I actually wanted to put a red halo around the projectile of enemis and turrets but I do not know how to change and I think ca ca must be more complicated ...
J have tried with yy - chr but I 'm lost when you talk about changing the tiles $ 4 $ 4f of the first bank graphics (or is this the first bank? And $ 4 it means what? Color code ? ) ...
Finally what it is that thank you to enlighten me to my request not really interesting for pros hacking
SOMETIMES A

[Bregalad]

Par contre le fait que je l ai agrandi modifie aussi la surface de collisions?

Bien sûr que non, les collisions se font de façon "logique" dans le code du jeu (et non de façon "graphique" par hardware, comme c'est possible par exemple pour le Commodore 64).

Si tu t'intéresse aux collisions de Contra ça tombe bien, quelqu'un a écrit un article à ce sujet récemment : http://tomorrowcorporation.com/posts/retro-game-internals

$4e et $4f sont les numéros des Tiles dans la banque. La première banque se trouve au début de la CHR-ROM, qui est dans le fichier après l'en-tête iNES et la PRG-ROM (c'est à cause du standard iNES). Tu vois bien que quand tu édites les graphiques d'une ROM il n'y a que de la "bouille de pixels" pour la première partie : C'est normal car c'est la PRG-ROM, le programme, et qu'il ne stoque pas les graphiques. Puis il y a les graphiques qui correspondent à la CHR-ROM, il y a de nombreuses banques mais les sprites principaux se trouvent dans la première.

Pour l'auréole rouge, ce n'est possible que si la couleur rouge est contenue dans la palette qui est utilisé pour le projectile en question... Les graphiques ne font pas références aux couleurs directement (ça prendrait beaucoup trop de place) mais à la palette qui elle même fait référence aux couleurs (palettes de 4 couleurs (dont une transparente) : 2 bits par pixel, d'ou le nom "NES 2BP").

Bonne chance pour la suite.

[MrSeguin]

Grand Merci Bregalad !
n' ayant aucune connaissance en programmation mais ayant eu toujours beaucoup de curiosite sur comment "faire" un jeu nes(ou 8 bits ou retro...) me voila gate !
Je m en vais tester les differents "hacks" que j ai fait sur ma GBA pour voir ce que cela donne.
Encore merci pour toutes ces precieuses infos que je vais devorer demain quand je serais pepere:)
Tes reponses claires et precisent ont conforter mes intuitions.

Thanks a lot Bregalad !
Beeing a total nub in programming but having a lot of curiosity in "how to make a nes(8 bits...) game I'm very happy with all your informations !
I'm gonna try  the various hacks I made to suit my GBA conmpressed screen to emulate nes to see which one suit the best.
Your clear and precises infos made it clear in my mind.
Again thanks a lot for all the precious infos that I will enjoy to read tomorrow when I will be quiet:)

January 08, 2015, 02:12:20 PM - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)
Desole pour les fautes...et les accents(clavier americain mais surtout sous l influence d un put... de virus qui me fatigue en ce moment..)
je serai...
reponses claires et precises...
conforte..
Et felicitations car ca fait quelques temps que je vadrouille sur le net  pour glaner des infos sur les jeux 8 bits-retro(programmation et autres...) mais je dois dire que quand tu expliques ca me parait beaucoup plus clair.Tu es doue pour la vulgarisation concise:)
Encore merci Bregalad(le hack une passion? le seigneur des anneaux, une autre?)

[jimstrom]

I'm a really big fan of Pallette,sprite or text hacks, small touches that improve the game. Here is some of my wishes for hacks, which will probably never be done, but one can hope right?

Ducktales 1 & 2 NES -

Give Scrooge Mcduck and the beagle boys their cartoon color scheme.

Ducktales 2 NES -

Fix the diaglogue so Gyro and launchpad call Scrooge mr . Mcduck or Mr- Mc-D like the original.

Bionic Commando NES -

The no censorship hack is awesome, so now the only thing bugging me is that the Nazi's are wearing neon pink uniforms, a fix to give them grey, black or brown uniforms would improve.

Robocop NES -

a simple palette hack to make Murphy grey instead of blue.

Friday the 13th NES -

this game could really use a full makeover, but till one is made, i'm simply satisfied with a change in Jasons color scheme from purple to blue, and the mask to white.

Godzilla NES -

if someone could get rid of that stupid time limit, this game would be much better.

Castlevania 3 NES -

It would be really cool, if one could remake the sprites on Trevor and Alucard to look a bit more like their later apperances.

The Adventures of Bayou Billy NES -

I really like the mad city version with it's much easier difficulty, but i miss the sound effects and the graphics from the american version, so a simple difficult hack to the american version would be superb.

Back to the future NES -

Well it will still not be a better game, but the music in game is the power of love sped up to unrecognisable. A slow down of the music, and a simple sprite hack to make the ingame person look more like Marty, and it would atleast look a bit more like Back to the future.

Journey to Silius NES -

I heard this game was supposed to be a Terminator game, so a graphic and text hack to make the game look more like Terminator would be awesome.

Double Dragon 1-3 NES

A simple change of Billy and Jimmy's hair just to make them more accurate.

Super Mario World - SNES

With all of the Super Mario World hacks, i am surprised to see that no one has atempted to restore the Koopalings to their super mario bros 3 colors.

Wizards and Warriors 1-3 NES

I have always wondered why the in game sprite of Kuros look nothing like the artwork, don't know if it can be done, but a sprite hack of Kuros to make him look more conanesque like the artwork would be cool.

Battle Toads NES -

Just a simple shades and Gloves hack to Different between Zits and Rash.

Toki NES -

The sprite of Toki in the Nes version looks way to cute compared to the other versions, a sprite make over would be good.


This is what i can think of right now, maybe i will write down some more if i can think of a few more.

[SCD]

I would like to see a hack for Mega Man X5 that does this stuff to it:

Restore the unused music for Dr. Light's capsule and Tidal Makkoeen's stage.
Restore the intro song from the Japanese version.
Restore any Japanese voice clip they took out.
Restore the Japanese title screen.
Give the bosses their Japanese names.

[Midna]

If you're going to restore the names, you should probably localize them. "Duff McWhalen" is a stupid name, but "Tidal Makkoeen" doesn't really mean anything in English and could easily become "Tidal Whaleen".

[M-Tee]

@Jimstrom: Most of your ideas are actually very, very simple.

Palettes in a nutshell:
Use FCEUX.

View the PPU Viewer. There are two rows of palettes at the bottom. One for sprites, one for backgrounds.

Hover over each palette to check its hex value.

View the hex editor in FCEUX.

Change the view to ROM.

Find the same sequence.

Change it to the numbers you want.

@SCD
I'm not intimately familiar with MMX5, but what improvements are available in the US one that would make you want to revert these elements and not just play the Japanese one?

[Almagest]

I'd like a hack of Castlevania SotN. Or better, two hacks.

One of them should allow the BGM to keep playing when you press Start. The menu is boring without music.

The other one would be a HardType hack of the game. This game is insanely easy and not challenging enough. Even the Lucky/Hard Mode gets easy after some time. I want the Normal Mode to be difficult, and the Lucky Mode to be hell.

P.S.: Both hacks should be compatible with the Japanese version/Gemini's translation, otherwise I'm not interested.

[STARWIN]

The other one would be a HardType hack of the game. This game is insanely easy and not challenging enough. Even the Lucky/Hard Mode gets easy after some time. I want the Normal Mode to be difficult, and the Lucky Mode to be hell.

P.S.: Both hacks should be compatible with the Japanese version/Gemini's translation, otherwise I'm not interested.

Well there is this (http://www.insanedifficulty.com/board/index.php?/topic/5587-castlevania-symphony-of-the-night-hardtype-v22/), but I guess that is unacceptable for you because it says NTSC-U. Such sad reality.

[Zero Dozer]

I have a better idea for a SOTN hack: Remove the Level effect in EXP calculation, making it possible to get to Level 99 without cheating or grinding the Final Guardian beside the Black Marble Gallery clock for ages.

@Starwin: LOL, the guys at ID removed the most broken weapons from the game.

[Tsukiyomaru0]

two ideas:
1. A demake of Super Mario 64 using Super Mario Bros 3 and ASM hacking. Super Mario Bros 3 Mix shows it's possible to do A LOT with SMB3
2. A demake of New Super Mario Bros (and maybe of New Super Mario Bros 2 and New Super Mario Bros U) using SMB3 and ASM yet again.

[glurak]

Dont know when i right here. But i dont have the skill to do it by myself but i will Help alot  with translating and Beta testing !  I will do an Suikoden 1 Translating in German and a retranslating for Suikoden II.

Maybe  Suikoden III too.

I have the Text already here in snes Edit  its not compressed etc. but editdoenst work at all. Maybe somebody could help x)

[CM30]

two ideas:
1. A demake of Super Mario 64 using Super Mario Bros 3 and ASM hacking. Super Mario Bros 3 Mix shows it's possible to do A LOT with SMB3
2. A demake of New Super Mario Bros (and maybe of New Super Mario Bros 2 and New Super Mario Bros U) using SMB3 and ASM yet again.

Personally, I'd love to see a SMW version of the above.  We've had two cancelled projects that tried to be 'Mario 64 in 2D' and 'New Super Mario Bros on SNES':

http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=section&a=details&id=5267

But I'd genuinely want something like Super Mario 63, except on a console:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECvcVQQMNJQ