Language…
12 users online: 35TCB77, Buflen, crm0622, crocodileman94, fanfan21, Hayashi Neru, KoJi, Maw, Metakabe, Neuromancer, Nirv, signature_steve - Guests: 239 - Bots: 316
Users: 64,795 (2,377 active)
Latest user: mathew

The SM64 Hacking Help/FAQ Thread (updated Nov 21)

Link Thread Closed
  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 120
  • 121
  • 122
This thread is where you can ask questions about SM64 hacking, TT64, OBJ importer, anything.

As ever please take a little look round the internet to make sure your question hasn't been answered already #ab{:)}

So, fire away...

Tutorials

Importing from Google Sketchup
Creating with Sketchup

FAQ

Q; Why does it say my ROM is invalid?
A; You need a USA SM64 ROM.

Q; Where do I get a USA ROM?
A; By searching this key word on Google "Super Mario 64 (U) [!]".

Q; My ROM won't open in TT64!
A; Open a regularly extended ROM and go into preference, and enable "Skip ROM Checksum".

Q; When I try to run my ROM I get a CIC chip error.
A; Just ignore it, when your rom is modified the checksum is mis-calculated.

Q; I get an error saying "In a permanent loop that cannot be exited" when trying to run my ROM.
A; Could be you modified the checksum and forgot to re-calculate it, try opening your ROM in the SM64 Level Importer and going into ROM settings and checking "Restore CRC and Checksum" and save selected changes. If it doesn't work then there must have been an error in the patching procedure of your ROM.

Q; Why does Mario die when I start my level?
A; Open your level in Toad's Tool 64 and move the object called "Warp Mario's Start" to where your level is.

Q; I get a black screen!
A; A result of an error in configuring the warps.

Q; Why is my level is too big or too small?
A; Mess around with the scaling in the Level Importer. Increase it if your level is too big, and vice-versa.

Q; I get a white screen I try to enter my level!
A; That happens as a result of changing the warp into something else or too much polygons seen on sight.

Q; Why are there invisible walls everywhere?
A; Enable Death Floor in the Level Importer.

Q; I imported a level into Peach's Castle Grounds and moved the warp but Mario still spawns at an unusual place.
A; Warps at Peach's Castle is hardcoded, now open your ROM in TT64, at the bottom of the screen, you see some parameters like;
X 1000 Y -1000 Z 100, now open that same ROM in the OBJ importer, go to the "Level Settings", you shall see a check box called "Initial Position", check it and copy those parameters into their expected places.

Q; What is the limitations for channels on SM64?
A; 15.

Q; What is a .M64 file?
A; It's the Sequence file format SM64 uses or in general N64.

Q; Why does a part of my custom music sound weird?
A; Transpose the channel/track that sounds weird.

Q; Why doesn't the tempo of my track go above 255?
A; The tempo is one byte; the maximum value is 255 (0xFF).

Q; Is it possible to import WAV files and MP3 into SM64?
A; No.

Q; There was no Drum in the instrument list of NINST37 but it is heared in the original.
A; It's a percussion, the channel you want to have a drum change it to a "General Percussion".

Q; Where do I get a wavefront OBJ?
A; With google sketchup or blender, OBJ is a 3D model type. Note that the 2014/2015 versions of sketchup seem to have some compatibility issues with the OBJ exporter plugin for some people (trashing exports) so use with caution.

Q; How do I replace textures in the game?
A; By using N64 Rip and TT64, N64 rip is more convenient, you can get the addresses from TT64, make sure you are in Hexa-decimal mode.

Q; Why are my textures stretched?
A; A texture can't repeat more than 32 times, subdivide that face with a line.

Q; How do I change the textures on Mario's cloth?
A; Mario's clothes was colored, they didn't use an actual texture.

Q; I imported an Untextured model into Mario 64 and it's not white like in the 3D modeller, there are Random Textures applied.
A; Those are known as "Place Holder" textures, you should apply textures to it, it can't just be null.

Q; Why are my textures not showing up and are just replaced with random ones?
A; Resized BitMap Images(BMP) tend not to show up.

Q; How do I replace the Title Screen?
A; Make your model, export it to obj, load it in the OBJ importer 1.9s, open the "Custom Importer", look for the title screen and select "Import Model".

Q; Why is my polygon count size double?
A; Don't export two sided faces.

Q; Why are some faces in my level invisible?
A; Only white faces show up, reverse all purple faces.

Q; Why does Mario fall right through walls?
A; Don't export back and front faces.

Q; What is the safest polygon count for SM64?
A; 16,500 Polygons.

Q; Why does my level appear weird with some missing faces?
A; Your model needs to be triangulated and edges need to be exported as they are literally the building blocks of all 3D models.

Q; When I try to replace to an Object in the custom importer or import a title screen I get a "Maximum Model Size Exceeded" Error.
A; You might have to chop down some polygons and reduce the amount of textures used.

Q; Why do my textures look blurry?
A; Any textures with a height/Width more than 64x32 and 32x64 will get resized to fit with the N64 Texture Cache Size, resize them by yourself and sharpen them.

Q; Why do my textures always appear stretched after being subdivided?
A; Textures need to be resized to SM64 Resolution which would be 32x32, 64x32 and 32x64 and so on, they must be rectangles or squares. Textures with resolutions of Something like 32x31 or 24x32 will get the calculations wrong when Texture maps are being converted into F3D Microcode.

Q; Why are my textures upside down?
A; Try checking "Vertically Flip Textures".

Q; How do I make the empty part of a texture transparent, It's either Black/White?
Add an Alpha channel to your texture so it supports transparency then erase the black/white side and save it as a PNG.

Q; I'm trying to make a fence but when I look to the other side it is invisible!
A; The back face doesn't get exported. Push/pull it to the thinnest simple.

Q; Why does my model look weird and the triangles on faces are missing?
A; You need to export edges and check "Triangulate" in the OBJ exporter.

Q; Why does Mario keep going through everything?
A; Delete any unused faces at that area.

Q; Why does are there glitched collisions in my level?
A; Make sure there are any underlying unused polygons, these are prone to cause problems and place your model higher.

Q; What is the difference between “coin” and “coin-collectible”?
A; Both serve the same function.

Q; Can TT64 be ported to android?
A; It is a heavy program and even if it wasn't I doubt it could, it is programmed in Adobe's lingo, gets excuted with Adobe Director, it uses OpenGL, D3D9/11 as a 3D renderer.

Q; Why are my textures corrupt?
A; Happens when you close the window when it's importing so the process is not finished and writing the textures gets interrupted, you have to re-import it this time completing it, no harm done to your ROM, just the display list.

Q; My background is corrupt.
A; Scale it to 248x248 in an image editing software like GIMP or Paint.NET so it wraps around the whole icospherical background.

Q; How do I remove the Nintendo copyright and TM sign at the title screen?
A; Open your ROM in a hex editor, go to(CTRL+G) 26A1EC and write 00 00 00 00 to remove them, NOPs the geolayout function that executes them.

Q; Why are my slopes collision glitchy?
A; You can either change it the collision in the collision tab to a "climbable hill" or alternatively draw a seperate model file for the collision, make the collision that of a cube by drawing a cube at the tree's position and exporting the OBJ as the collision file of your model.

Q; What is object with the highest polygon count to replace?
A; From an order of Biggest to the smallest-
-------------------------------------------
1. Castle in the sky: 382.
2. Vertical Maze: 281.
3. Pyramidal Platforms Anim 1/2/3/4/Assembly: 230.
4. Flying Ship: 118.

Q; My music cracks at some point when it's playing.
A; That is because there are too many notes that have to be played, your best solution would be to delete some channels.

Q; Why does all the objects position in my level reset when I re-import?
A; You have to uncheck the centered option in the obj importer.

Q; Why does Mario have backfaces?
A; Re-import your model with obj importer 1.9.3

Q; Why does the game freeze when I play through?
A; It's best not to use 0x0E objects, if the problem persists then reduce the polygon count.

Revision 4 by Mr. GreenThunder at 2015-06-08.
Added note regarding 2014/2015 versions of sketchup - shygoo 1/18/15
Thanks for making this thread, this whole forum still need a little shaping up to do. I'll probably sticky this so users will know to go to it.
Im having a problem with model importing basically everytime I try to import it the model importer would say "cannot read".

I upload a video on YouTube to better show this here is the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npYCyFEEs2A&feature=plcp

if anybody knows what I'm doing wrong please reply
That's odd. I've been thinking on what could of caused it. Does this happen to all SM64 ROM's or just the one you have in that folder?

Try putting the S64.z64 ROM in your boot C:\ then typing "C:\S64.z64" in the model replacer program.
I tried that and it didn't work. I've used multiple roms and even re downloaded model replacer 0.2 a obj importer and that also didn't work
So it sounds like a problem with the program then. Maybe try copying the whole folder in boot c: and see if it works then, if not then the only other thing thing I can think off is try running the model replacer program as an administer.
I personally wouldn't mind a whole "Importing from Google Sketchup for Dummies" tutorial or something, I've made some pretty good concepts in Sketchup, and I know it's possible to import them to SM64,
but I don't have the knowledge, and no tutorials on YouTube are simple enough for my tiny brain to comprehend.
ADMINS PLEASE MAKE E-MAIL NOTIFICATIONS A THING I BEG OF YOU
when i saw the extra music section, i immediately wanted to know one thing. does anybody know what the limitations are?
Originally posted by Devann
I personally wouldn't mind a whole "Importing from Google Sketchup for Dummies" tutorial or something, I've made some pretty good concepts in Sketchup, and I know it's possible to import them to SM64,
but I don't have the knowledge, and no tutorials on YouTube are simple enough for my tiny brain to comprehend.


Sure, I'll get right on to making one for you. What kind of tutorial would you like?
I'm sure we've all asked this at one point or another, how do you import custom models and animations over Mario. A video would be preferred if you have the time, since I'm more of a visual person (and looking through the source for the Kirby mod didn't help much...).
Eh, sure. Why not? Kaizo hacking doesn't seem too ha-aaaaaaand I broke the ROM.
Originally posted by DarkBones
I'm sure we've all asked this at one point or another, how do you import custom models and animations over Mario. A video would be preferred if you have the time, since I'm more of a visual person (and looking through the source for the Kirby mod didn't help much...).


Skelux made a handy little program that imports custom models over non-level models. The example in the video link imports over a title screen but it's also has other models to replace over like Mario's limbs. It can be a bit tricky to use that program though, so if you need any help let me know exactly where you get stuck and I'll try to help you out.

Originally posted by omegazeroINFI
when i saw the extra music section, i immediately wanted to know one thing. does anybody know what the limitations are?

Sorry do you mind if you clarify what you are asking? Do you mean the limitations in making music for SM64?
yea, limitations

example

smw has 8 channels
specific instruments
cant play chords on a single channel

stuff like that.

i guess how to make it can be included roughly if you dont mind.
Originally posted by omegazeroINFI
yea, limitations

example

smw has 8 channels
specific instruments
cant play chords on a single channel

stuff like that.

i guess how to make it can be included roughly if you dont mind.



There are 9 channels available with messiaen's XML importer. It shows 16 available, but only the first 9 are functional. Here is an instrument list I made, you can select one instrument set (NLST) for each song and use any instrument within that instrument set. Occasionally chords will act weird on a single channel, usually when playing a long note. Although sometimes, chords work just fine.
thats..... a rather complex and possibly limited instrument set... granted not as complicated as pokemon gen3 which can barely be done at all as far as i know.
Subdrag's sound tool used to be able to import to SM64, but it wasn't "safe" as he said, so now it only plays the sounds. I actually have the old version, I'll see if I can upload it. If you plan to use it, I recommend making a back-up of your ROM before importing.
How do I extract the textures of the game, a 2x larger size? Because when I do "dumping" of texuras, they leave very small, and if I edit them, they get Embassies.

Sorry for my bad English #smw{^_^}
Originally posted by GroovyYoshi
How do I extract the textures of the game, a 2x larger size? Because when I do "dumping" of texuras, they leave very small, and if I edit them, they get Embassies.

Sorry for my bad English #smw{^_^}


That's the original size of the textures in SM64. The game can only handle 32px*32px or 32px*64px. If you want bigger textures you are going to have to re-size them after the ripping the original textures.
Originally posted by Vinnyboiler
Originally posted by Devann
I personally wouldn't mind a whole "Importing from Google Sketchup for Dummies" tutorial or something, I've made some pretty good concepts in Sketchup, and I know it's possible to import them to SM64,
but I don't have the knowledge, and no tutorials on YouTube are simple enough for my tiny brain to comprehend.


Sure, I'll get right on to making one for you. What kind of tutorial would you like?


The kind that has pictures along with words, if you do not mind. I'm more of a hands-on type learner. I learn by being shown what to do instead of told.
ADMINS PLEASE MAKE E-MAIL NOTIFICATIONS A THING I BEG OF YOU
Is there any way for Bowser to appear normal looking in the final battle, like on the DS?
Originally posted by Devann
Originally posted by Vinnyboiler
Originally posted by Devann
I personally wouldn't mind a whole "Importing from Google Sketchup for Dummies" tutorial or something, I've made some pretty good concepts in Sketchup, and I know it's possible to import them to SM64,
but I don't have the knowledge, and no tutorials on YouTube are simple enough for my tiny brain to comprehend.


Sure, I'll get right on to making one for you. What kind of tutorial would you like?


The kind that has pictures along with words, if you do not mind. I'm more of a hands-on type learner. I learn by being shown what to do instead of told.


Here you go, I hope this is what you wanted. Let me know if you want any more help.

Originally posted by KartMario
Is there any way for Bowser to appear normal looking in the final battle, like on the DS?


It's possible but their is really any easy solution to it at the moment. It's more high level hacking stuff, I'll try to help you out with that if you really want it though, but I personally think it will be too much of a hassle.
  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 120
  • 121
  • 122
Link Thread Closed