Skeetendo

delpo wrote:

Are you sure that particular pokemon's graphic is the right size and not too big?  If the dimensions are not perfect, the graphic will not display correctly.

yep, I know to make them the right size. this seemed to happen after I inserted quite a few sprites...... this problem makes it so, I can't insert anymore sprites without this glitchyness happening.

AgiXP's auto-pointer seems to break after a certain number of insertions (It was one of the first major issues I ran into when developing Touhoumon).  It usually doesn't bother too many hackers who usually just change  few species or sprites, but for hacks that replace more than half a pokedex like you're doing, this bug creeps it way up.

My advice, start doing manual repointing from now on.  Look for some blocks of freespace in your ROM (any large space of 00 bytes in your hex editor), or overwrite some of the original image locations to save space.  Whatever you do, make sure you are manually designating the hex addresses for your sprites insertions by typing &H______ (fill in the blank with the hex address) in that field when it shows up.

Ok, it's great someone know the direct problem. so, I've not done very much hex editing. in fact none at all, I'm more the art director of this project. so I've pretty much been using tools, except for people that have helped with map connecting. So that overriding tip you gave. does that mean to go delete unnecessary pokemon image information? if so, I do have a hex editor that I really barely know how to use, so if I'm giving the offset, and what to exactly to delete I would do so.

Miksy91 wrote:

folaip wrote:

Ok, it's great someone know the direct problem. so, I've not done very much hex editing. in fact none at all, I'm more the art director of this project. so I've pretty much been using tools, except for people that have helped with map connecting. So that overriding tip you gave. does that mean to go delete unnecessary pokemon image information? if so, I do have a hex editor that I really barely know how to use, so if I'm giving the offset, and what to exactly to delete I would do so.

You should be repointing data from now on. Everything has its own "place" inside the rom. For example, if you wanted to change the front sprite of Sentret to that of Zigzagoon for instance and used AgiXp to do it, this is what would happen inside the rom:

The program (AgiXp) would locate the pointer that determines where Sentret's image (front sprite) is stored ("one way or another" (well, I do know this could work but it's not important so I won't confuse you more with it), the programmer of AgiXp has made the program to do that). This pointer consists of 3 bytes which tell where the sprite of Sentret's front sprite is located (you can find tutorials about repointing in Gameboy/Cross gen section, they will explain how these pointers work).

While inserting the image of Zigzagoon with AgiXp, you can either choose the address where you want to insert that image or you can let AgiXp manually choose an address where there is free space for inserting that new image. Let's assume you let AgiXp to choose the offset itself. Now, AgiXp checks for free space to insert the new image in, once it finds a "good place" for it, it picks up the offset of this free space, and calculates a pointer leading to this offset. Finally, it simply replaces the original pointer (which lead to image of Sentret) with this new pointer (leading to the rom area where the program decided to insert Zigzagoon's image in).

ok, seeing I know nothing about hex editing, I tell agixp to save the image at an offset that has free space. Then... I really don't know how to repoint it to make, let's say slowbrow use the stunfisk image I just inserted.

so how pokemon looks up things is using a table with an entry for each graphic. each entry has 3 bytes:

the first is the bank the data is in. the game boy can only have a couple chunks of the rom open at a time. these chunks are called banks. they're $4000 bytes long so to get to the right bank you multiply the bank # by $4000

the next 2 are the address the data is at in ram. there are only 2 banks open at a time, bank 0 and another of your choice. this means only the switchable bank is going to contain the graphics data. this bank is accessed from $4000-7fff ($4000 bytes long, the entire bank), so the address is going to be somewhere between those values

the address is typically stored in reverse. since it uses 2 bytes, they can be swapped around so the lower byte is read first. so an address $4075 would look like 75 40 in a hex editor

these conventions are not inherent to the hardware or even the game, multiple arrangements are used depending on how the programmer felt like doing it at the time

so what this means is if you have an address it just has to be converted to this format:

get out windows calculator (win key -> type 'calc.exe') and switch to programmer mode (under view, or alt+3). you can switch between hex and decimal at will and there's a nice view of the binary representation too

so for the hero backsprite from http://www.romendo.net/stag019/pokedex/test2.php the address is $3f9cb

to get the bank we divide by $4000. $3f9cb / $4000 = $f, so the sprite is in bank f (15)

the ram address is trickier at a glance. you can subtract $f*$4000 (=$3c000) from the address (=$39cb) and add another $4000 (=$79cb)

or you can type in the address, '&' then 7fff. the result is the same

so the resulting entry would look like 0f cb 79

to convert back, you add the ram address & 3fff (39cb) to the bank * 4000 (bank f -> 3c000) -> 3f9cb

what is it that you're confused about? ask away

comet wrote:

what is it that you're confused about? ask away

I'm confused by the fact I don't know anything to do with hex editing, so these words are foreign to me. I am the director/art director, I don't have anything to do with hex editing, which is why I would be grateful if someone were to do this for me.

Miksy91 wrote:

I've uploaded several video tutorials in youtube. They're linked to the Global FAQ and resource thread.
Once you understands most stuff explained in parts from 1 to (5 ?), you can check what I've explained about pointers in the parts following them.

ok, I have a much better Idea, so I coverted a hex location that was free, changed it to decimal and saved stunfisks sprite at that location
on agixp, now when I go to that offset, there's a whole bunch of data. now, what offset does pokemon data start and how do I re-point slowbro to use that stunfisk image I inserted?

folaip wrote:

Miksy91 wrote:

I've uploaded several video tutorials in youtube. They're linked to the Global FAQ and resource thread.
Once you understands most stuff explained in parts from 1 to (5 ?), you can check what I've explained about pointers in the parts following them.

ok, I have a much better Idea, so I coverted a hex location that was free, changed it to decimal and saved stunfisks sprite at that location
on agixp, now when I go to that offset, there's a whole bunch of data. now, what offset does pokemon data start and how do I re-point slowbro to use that stunfisk image I inserted?

I meant to say I have a much better idea of what I'm doing -_-