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BN6: Editing messages in overworld; you must be patient with this
Topic Started: May 12 2008, 09:50 PM (5,024 Views)
MegaRockEXE
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By popular demand, I finally present the tutorial on hacking messages in overworld (or on the map).
Bear with me here as this is an incredibly difficult and patient topic that isn't for newbies. If you feel that you're ready, follow this guide.

My example message will be this one. Hopefully it's available to everyone.

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Now, instead of looking in the ROM memory, we will look in RAM. This means we have to use "Search for Cheats" (Ctrl+C by default) in VBA.

We will look for letter values in hex using the game's table. To make it easier, I will provide the table for you guys again.

00 =
01 = 0
02 = 1
03 = 2
04 = 3
05 = 4
06 = 5
07 = 6
08 = 7
09 = 8
0A = 9

0B = A
0C = B
0D = C
0E = D
0F = E
10 = F
11 = G
12 = H
13 = I
14 = J
15 = K
16 = L
17 = M
18 = N
19 = O
1A = P
1B = Q
1C = R
1D = S
1E = T
1F = U
20 = V
21 = W
22 = X
23 = Y
24 = Z
25 = *

26 = a
27 = b
28 = c
29 = d
2A = e
2B = f
2C = g
2D = h
2E = i
2F = j
30 = k
31 = l
32 = m
33 = n
34 = o
35 = p
36 = q
37 = r
38 = s
39 = t
3A = u
3B = v
3C = w
3D = x
3E = y
3F = z

40 = RV
41 = BX
42 = EX
43 = SP
44 = FZ
45-97 = Japanese Text
98 = -
99 = x
9A = =
9B = :
9C = %
9D = ?
9E = +
9F = Block Character
A0 = Bat
A1 = -
A2 = !
A3 = &
A4 = ,
A5 = Degrees
A6 = .
A7 = Floating dot
A8 = ;
A9 = '
AA = "
AB = ~
AC = /
AD = (
AE = )
AF = Japanese Quotation Mark Up
B0 = Japanese Quotation Mark Down
B1 =
B2 = _
B3 = Zenny Mark
B4 = L Button
B5 = B Button
B6 = R Button
B7 = A Button
B8-DF = Japanese Text
E0 = end
E1=E3 = Japanese Text
E4 = Star Character
E6 = Complete Stop
E7 = End of message
E9 = Next Line
EB = Words after that are not enunciated

That will prove to be a very useful tool. Tip; commas don't need spaces, so that can take place of a space you may have used.

Now, the reason you are even seeing that message is because the text is in the RAM. In "Search for Cheats", the easiest way to find the address you're looking for is to find it in 16-bit. Sometimes text varies, so we'll try the letters La. When searching, the letters "La" will be backwards, so it's 2616.
Usually you will come up with lots of results. At least in this case, you can start ruling some out until you come up with the correct one. Easiest way is to click the "Add cheat" button below and put 00 on some of them.

However, it turns out that this message is aligned differently, so we must search again. (aie,aie,aie) :Cry:
Usually, it's best to keep to the short results, and search for characters that appear only in that message...like a comma!
Search 39A4, which is the ,t from the message. Try it and we get 4 results! The address is within grasp! Narrowing it down reveals that 0202DB66 is the correct address. Try the cheat and you'll see that Dex's message has an unusual space in the middle. Now comes the hard part.

First, put this address in the memory viewer. We will do this to find the exact beginning of the message and to double-check for errors.

This is what the message looks like at the very beginning.
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I have color-coded important sections for you. The red box is all the data it takes to create the message. The green box highlights the important special values which represent headers and footers.
More information on special values can be found here.

Now that you can identify the role of data, you can start making cheats for your message. The previous example should explain how to change even the mugshot. All I'll do is explain how the cheats work.

I won't use this message as an example, but take one of my messages as an example. This is the message "What the drip?" spoken by Aquaman. It can be found in Central Area 1 just by talking to one of the fainted Navis.

8202DDBE E848
8202DDC0 2100
8202DDC2 262D
8202DDC4 0039
8202DDC6 2D39
8202DDC8 002A
8202DDCA 3729
8202DDCC 352E
8202DDCE E79D
8202DDD0 E600

Keep in mind this is the shortest cheat for a message I've made. Normally, it would go on for much longer. Also, since it's 16-bit the letter values are all backwards. Everything goes against what you know so much that it gets really difficult. And you must get it right the first time or you have to re-write your whole message all over again. (sheesh!)
Also, since you will always expand on the message, you will always add +2h to the cheat address, so it goes 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, A, C, E, 0....

Finally, I've prepared a diagram to help explain how you read the message.

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Might be a bad illustration, but it's a simple idea. You start at the left, then move your cursor in front to put the next letter. Then you move to the next line and repeat. So it's just working backwards. Test it out and try taking apart my cheat. You'll get the hang of it.

The only good that comes from your hard effort is that you can recycle old cheats. All you have to do is change the values since the address will be the same if the script you want is in the same room.
It might be lots of manual labor, but it looks really nice.

Now, we all know that in cutscenes, the character is never within proximity of another character when messages start. So in that case, you will have to enable the message from a distance. This is just a trick that when someone sees it recorded, they can't tell the difference. I used it all the time in my video so you know what I mean.

First, you must analyze the situation. You have to find the sprite editing area in the memory viewer. You will need to know this to successfully manipulate the environment for your cutscene. Begin here:
Code:
 
02005744

That should be a relevant area as to where editing sprites begin. They all have the same layout you must come to recognize. I'll briefly explain what you're looking for.
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Okay, now here is what the colors represent.
Red does 2 things. The first set, 0303 is the value for animation. You always have to edit the first 03 since it's reflected back to the one behind it so it's always the same. To find out for who this is for (since its different for every area) this is a simple way to find out. Try 05 for yourself and see what changes.

Now that we know that it's the Extra Folder guy in the back, which is off camera, we can use him. A quick value of importance I forgot to highlight, the most important value you are looking for will be the value 0004 that is found on all sets below and always near 0804. Did you know that if you switch 0004 to 0008, you talk to him?! Well this is what you will use. Simply trigger this value with a Joker Code (D0000020 0004 line for select button) and you can talk to him and be somewhere else. However, we won't be using him for text hacking, so it's just an example. You can find Dex yourself.

Green is also a very important value when it comes to setting the scene. Both change the location of that person. The first one is for the X-axis (assuming the axis is tilted for overworld) and the second one is the y-axis. It's usually safe to make small changes first, just to see how it reacts. It's pretty much self-explanatory. After all, you are in control.

Blue is the sprite value for that category. Purple sets the category for what the sprite will be. You won't need this so much. Maybe you might want to set objects, so that's when you use the category 1C. These 2 go hand-in-hand, so understand it and learn to identify it because you will need to know how to spot it when it comes to finding other sprites' data.


At 02005964, you should be at Dex's data, and by now, you should know what everything does.
Try this cheat:
Code:
 
D0000020 0004
32005968 0008

Push Select and see what happens.

Posted Image

There, you are enabling your hacked message without actually seeing the person! Depending on how you use it, it will be useful to you and will no doubt create more accurate cutscenes.

Good luck! :)
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timaeus222
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MegaRock, you'd be happy to see this video I made with your guide:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=swgmErDUdFA
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MegaRockEXE
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That's amazing considering I didn't even finish the whole guide. As long as you have the hang of it, you'll do better next time you make a cutscene.
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XxXGrezarXxX
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Wow, quite hard to understand, maybe I should complete the game before I do this(after all I can't upload)
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MegaRockEXE
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Look at this.
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No, it's not a palette edit. It's overworld effects. You can edit that here.

02000AA0

The middle values (after 4040) edit the palette Lan and Megaman are on. The set after that edits the shades. At 1111, I got that bluish light.
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Agro
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cool, ill try this out later on, right now im working on chip hacking, and i've made a great fodler but i don't know how to make a patch out of this...... if you would tell me how to make a patch i can give you my folder with good chips in it.
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MegaRockEXE
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Finally, a mugshot sprite list. Duh, it's useful.

00= Lan
01= Mayl
02= Dex
03= Yai
04= Chaud
05= Dr.Hikari
06= Ms. Hikari
07= black
08= Fat Boy
09= Little Kid
0A= Hairy Kid
0B= Generic Boy
0C= Generic Girl
0D= Generic Man
0E= Generic Woman
0F= Businessman
10= Lab Guy
11= Iris
12= Mr.Mach
13= Ms.Mari
14= Mick
15= Official Guy
16= Official Woman
17= Little Girl
18= Flower Woman
19= Old Man
1A= Old Woman
1B= Maid (holy crap I didn't notice that before)
1C= Mr. Famous
1D= Dr.Wily
1E= Mr.Match
1F= Shuko
20= Ms.Zap
21= Dingo
22= Ms.Farahn
23= Master Feng Tian
24= Moliarty
25= Mr.Press
26= Scythe
27= Mr.Ferry
28= black
29= black
2A= "pirate"
2B= "girl"
2C= Masked Chaud
2D= Prosecutor Ito
2E= "creepy dude"
2F= Baryl
30= black
31= black
32= Mr.Mayor
33= Tab
34= black
35= Otenko
36= Django
37= Megaman
38= Roll
39= Gutsman
3A= Glide
3B= Protoman
3C= Mr. Prog
3D= Gold Prog
3E= Normal Navi
3F= Pink Navi
40= "i forgot"
41= Generic Blue Navi
42= Orange Official Navi
43= Heel Navi
44= Red Heel Navi
45= Girl Navi
46= Yellow Girl Navi
47= Heatman
48= Aquaman
49= Elecman
4A= Tomahawkman
4B= Slashman
4C= Tenguman
4D= Groundman
4E= Dustman
4F= Killerman
50= Chargeman
51= Blastman
52= Diveman
53= Colonel
54= Circusman
55= Judgeman
56= Elementman
57= Mick's Navi
58= GBeast
59= FBeast
5A= Cloaked Protoman
5B= Bass
5C= Red Prog
5D= Blue Prog
5E= Yellow Prog
5F= Brown Prog
60= black

Just help me fill out the names I forgot and this is completed. I guess the Maid is unused.
Edited by MegaRockEXE, Dec 5 2008, 05:51 PM.
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Agro
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Programmer!

I understand about the changing locations of sprites but my mini-series is also about after Lan moves but I need a way to get Chaud out of the place my house is. Is there anyway that I can move Chaud away from the house and make the copybot in Central Town Chaud? I understand how to change sprites but when i try to edit the copybot in Central Town and Chaud in ACDC Town nothing will happen throughout the map. Do I have to find a way to talk to them and then I'll be able to edit him? Or if not tell me how.
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Dangel.exe
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A little thingy about the list.

34:Otenko
35:Django
36: HackJack

Doesn't really matter if you're using U version but however, I'm just pointing this.

BTW: Nice guide, I'll use that coordinate thingy to make cutscenes :D
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Signatures I made and you can use:
BluesSoul|Subaru|RockMan.EXE

Use the freely but you better warn if you want to be the only using it
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MegaRockEXE
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Oh thanks for pointing that out.
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BladeCrossEXE
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thanks for the boktai characters, now how do i change the over word sprite to make lan otenko and rockman django?
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MegaRockEXE
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You shouldn't have to. But there is a glitchy cheat that can force that.
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Slur
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Hey MegaRock, I made this with that:

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But is there a way I can edit L messages using this?
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triplexxx501
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AAAARGGHH i cant understand it!!! i've been looking at this or DAYS!!! can you please help?? mabey post a video or something to help? seesh i'm just a 13 year-old it's too much!
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MegaRockEXE
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It's too complicated? I've been meaning to write an easier one by now. I haven't got anything better to do.
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Christopher Shadestorm
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This is too complicated to do.
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Evil Megaman
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i have got it
but it is very difficult to understand and i think i will try to use it


Edit: hey megarock i have a doubt i dunno how to change the mugshot of the person/navi i am talking to
Edited by Evil Megaman, Mar 27 2010, 09:31 AM.
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MegaRockEXE
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This is really old. The fake cutscene guide is more useful.
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IngusRogeth
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Hmm....I understand. So if you wanted to find Lan, should we run? We type it back wards and then get this 086EF81B?
Siggy by me:3
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RoCK
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Oh... I have watched and studied for ONE day, sitting front of the computer for a day, try here and there, and still I can't do that... That's complicated...

It's not me that always ask questions, but things are really hard... I really want to make this...
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