well, my first tutorial submited on the site is the...
...Hack recovering tutorial!
This time we are going to recover a hack wich you have crashed with inserting xkas patch, music, ExGFX or sprites or whatever.
For this tutorial you need:
a clean rom
the crashed rom
lunar magic
there are some other tools you may need, but in case you have to recover , lets say music, it's because you inserted it, and if you inserted it i think you're supposed to have Addmusic.
1- recovering GFX, ExGFX.
SLOW WAY
First, we are gonna open the bad rom, and go to options/use joined GFX files, and then click the red and blue mushrooms, “quick extract GFX from rom” and “quick extract ExGFX from rom” .
Now, open the 16x16 tile map editor, and go to the first page wich you have some tiles. Press F2, and change the name of the Map16Page.bin and Map16PageG.bin to a name so you can know wich map16 is:
now, close the bad rom, and open the good rom. If is a clean rom, save it by going to file/ save level to rom or pressing CTRL+I. Now go to options and uncheck the “use joined GFX files” and press the red and blue mushrooms again,then the green and yellow ones so the original GFX won't be glitched. Now, check another time the “use joined GFX files” option, and insert the GFX (green one). Now you have all the GFX and ExGFX inserted.
Now, go and open the 16x16 map tile editor, and go to the first page you edited in your hack. Now, rename the map16Page.bin and the map16PageG.bin to this names (Ex: Land.bin to Map16Page.bin and LandG.bin to Map16PageG.bin), and press F3 on the 16x16 map tile editor and insert it. Do this with all the bin files you have, BG and FG.
SEMI-FAST WAY
open two LM windows, in one open the bad rom, and in the other open the good rom. Then, go to the bad rom, map16 editor, and press F2. Now go to the good rom, map16 editor, and press F3. And do this with all the editet map16pages, FG and BG ones.
MEGA FAST WAY
open two LM windows, open in both of them one rom , open the map16 editor, and in the bad rom press F5 and F7. now in the good one press F6 and F8.
2-Level Recovering:
well this part is too easy: open the bad rom, and go to file/Levels/Export multiple levels to files... then, check the “Only export modified levels from rom”
option and select the directory. When finished, open the good rom, and go to File/Levels/Import multiple levels from files... now, select the first level of the list, and lunar magic will insert for you all the levels with the options and paletes and all.
Palettes:
global
SLOW WAY
This part is only needed if you have made some new sprite palettes or mario palette, or whatever.
Open one LM with the bad rom, and one with the good one, and open the palete editor on both of them, like this:
now, just use this comands:
CTRL+left click: copy a color to clipboard
CTRL+right click: paste a color from clipboard.
With this, copy the colors from the bad to the good rom.
FAST WAY
open two LM windows, and with the bad rom in one and the good one in the other, open in both of them the palette editor. then press the dark-colored star with a green arrow (export all shared palettes to file). save it to any name, and then in the new rom press the dark-colored star with a red arrow (import all shared palettes from file), and choose the file you saved
Custom palette for level (in case this palettes hasn't been inserted along with the levels):
here, just go to the palette editor on the bad rom,and press the blue star with a green arrow, and save all the custom palettes you have for each level with any name. Now, open the good rom, and use the blue star with a red arrow with each level.
3-OW
Open two LM wndows, one with the bad rom, and one with the good one. Open the OW editor in both of them, click layer2 event editor mode, and press pagedown so you are at event 0 in both roms. Then, copy the events in the bad one and copy it to the good rom. Press pageup in both of them, and again copy-paste. Do this with all the events you've made. Then, change to layer2 editor mode , and copy-paste all from the bad rom to the good one. Mario's path and sprites etc. can't be copyed from rom to rom, so you have to make it in the good rom again, but looking the bad one so you know how does it look.
4-ASM
move the good rom to the folder where you insert xkas patches. If after using slogger, the free ram is the same as the bad one, you can directly insert the patches (after making a backup) with the same freeRAM. If not, simply change the free ram adress in the patch to one wich can be used. Aply one patch, then try your rom. If after aplying one patch, it's working PERFECTLY, then make a backup of this one, and insert another patch. Do the times you need, because xkas patches are the most popular crash cause. If you notice one thing that isn't going fine in the rom, delete the rom and use the backup. Copy it and, be sure you set the freespace/freeRAM/whatever name you call it.
When you finish with the patches, you can insert the sprites. Move the rom to the sprite tool folder (if you have sprite tool in the same folder as all things, you haven't got to move it, obviously). Then edit the txt file where you have the sprites, and after making a backup, insert them.
5-MUSIC
put the good rom in the admusic's folder, and put the songs in the folders you want (LEVEL, OW and MISC), and edit the addmusic.ini file.then, always AFTER making a backup, use the cmd like this:
AddMusic.exe your_rom.smc LEVEL/OW/MISC
obiously only write OW, or LEVEL, or MISC at once.
You can also make a bat file, one for each folder:
create three txt files, one call it LEVEL, one OW and one MISC. open LEVEL, and write:
AddMusic.exe yourrom.smc LEVEL
click file/save as... and save it as LEVEL.bat make the same with the other two changing the LEVEL thing to OW and MISC respectively.
And, you have recovered your rom! And remember, always, ALWAYS, make a backup copy of your rom before doing ANYTHING to it (exept editing levels if you don't want, and inserting ExGFX and palettes, but you should make a backup every month/week/whatever time you want)
...Hack recovering tutorial!
This time we are going to recover a hack wich you have crashed with inserting xkas patch, music, ExGFX or sprites or whatever.
For this tutorial you need:
a clean rom
the crashed rom
lunar magic
there are some other tools you may need, but in case you have to recover , lets say music, it's because you inserted it, and if you inserted it i think you're supposed to have Addmusic.
1- recovering GFX, ExGFX.
SLOW WAY
First, we are gonna open the bad rom, and go to options/use joined GFX files, and then click the red and blue mushrooms, “quick extract GFX from rom” and “quick extract ExGFX from rom” .
Now, open the 16x16 tile map editor, and go to the first page wich you have some tiles. Press F2, and change the name of the Map16Page.bin and Map16PageG.bin to a name so you can know wich map16 is:
now, close the bad rom, and open the good rom. If is a clean rom, save it by going to file/ save level to rom or pressing CTRL+I. Now go to options and uncheck the “use joined GFX files” and press the red and blue mushrooms again,then the green and yellow ones so the original GFX won't be glitched. Now, check another time the “use joined GFX files” option, and insert the GFX (green one). Now you have all the GFX and ExGFX inserted.
Now, go and open the 16x16 map tile editor, and go to the first page you edited in your hack. Now, rename the map16Page.bin and the map16PageG.bin to this names (Ex: Land.bin to Map16Page.bin and LandG.bin to Map16PageG.bin), and press F3 on the 16x16 map tile editor and insert it. Do this with all the bin files you have, BG and FG.
SEMI-FAST WAY
open two LM windows, in one open the bad rom, and in the other open the good rom. Then, go to the bad rom, map16 editor, and press F2. Now go to the good rom, map16 editor, and press F3. And do this with all the editet map16pages, FG and BG ones.
MEGA FAST WAY
open two LM windows, open in both of them one rom , open the map16 editor, and in the bad rom press F5 and F7. now in the good one press F6 and F8.
2-Level Recovering:
well this part is too easy: open the bad rom, and go to file/Levels/Export multiple levels to files... then, check the “Only export modified levels from rom”
option and select the directory. When finished, open the good rom, and go to File/Levels/Import multiple levels from files... now, select the first level of the list, and lunar magic will insert for you all the levels with the options and paletes and all.
Palettes:
global
SLOW WAY
This part is only needed if you have made some new sprite palettes or mario palette, or whatever.
Open one LM with the bad rom, and one with the good one, and open the palete editor on both of them, like this:
now, just use this comands:
CTRL+left click: copy a color to clipboard
CTRL+right click: paste a color from clipboard.
With this, copy the colors from the bad to the good rom.
FAST WAY
open two LM windows, and with the bad rom in one and the good one in the other, open in both of them the palette editor. then press the dark-colored star with a green arrow (export all shared palettes to file). save it to any name, and then in the new rom press the dark-colored star with a red arrow (import all shared palettes from file), and choose the file you saved
Custom palette for level (in case this palettes hasn't been inserted along with the levels):
here, just go to the palette editor on the bad rom,and press the blue star with a green arrow, and save all the custom palettes you have for each level with any name. Now, open the good rom, and use the blue star with a red arrow with each level.
3-OW
Open two LM wndows, one with the bad rom, and one with the good one. Open the OW editor in both of them, click layer2 event editor mode, and press pagedown so you are at event 0 in both roms. Then, copy the events in the bad one and copy it to the good rom. Press pageup in both of them, and again copy-paste. Do this with all the events you've made. Then, change to layer2 editor mode , and copy-paste all from the bad rom to the good one. Mario's path and sprites etc. can't be copyed from rom to rom, so you have to make it in the good rom again, but looking the bad one so you know how does it look.
4-ASM
move the good rom to the folder where you insert xkas patches. If after using slogger, the free ram is the same as the bad one, you can directly insert the patches (after making a backup) with the same freeRAM. If not, simply change the free ram adress in the patch to one wich can be used. Aply one patch, then try your rom. If after aplying one patch, it's working PERFECTLY, then make a backup of this one, and insert another patch. Do the times you need, because xkas patches are the most popular crash cause. If you notice one thing that isn't going fine in the rom, delete the rom and use the backup. Copy it and, be sure you set the freespace/freeRAM/whatever name you call it.
When you finish with the patches, you can insert the sprites. Move the rom to the sprite tool folder (if you have sprite tool in the same folder as all things, you haven't got to move it, obviously). Then edit the txt file where you have the sprites, and after making a backup, insert them.
5-MUSIC
put the good rom in the admusic's folder, and put the songs in the folders you want (LEVEL, OW and MISC), and edit the addmusic.ini file.then, always AFTER making a backup, use the cmd like this:
AddMusic.exe your_rom.smc LEVEL/OW/MISC
obiously only write OW, or LEVEL, or MISC at once.
You can also make a bat file, one for each folder:
create three txt files, one call it LEVEL, one OW and one MISC. open LEVEL, and write:
AddMusic.exe yourrom.smc LEVEL
click file/save as... and save it as LEVEL.bat make the same with the other two changing the LEVEL thing to OW and MISC respectively.
And, you have recovered your rom! And remember, always, ALWAYS, make a backup copy of your rom before doing ANYTHING to it (exept editing levels if you don't want, and inserting ExGFX and palettes, but you should make a backup every month/week/whatever time you want)