HOW TO - Change Graphics and Text in a NGPC Rom

[NiN^_^NiN]

Hi All

I've just recently started a project and have had to learn how to change a NGPC rom for my own use.

Project: http://forum.freeplaytech.com/showthread.php?tid=14

Now as there wasn't any instructions or information that I could find I am writing this simple and quick guide in case you need to do this yourself.

Below are the tools I used:

Graphics/Tile/Sprite Editor
TilEd 2000 0.64 Build 2600
http://www.zophar.net/utilities/graphuti...d2002.html

Emulator
NeoPop v0.71
http://www.zophar.net/ngpocket/neopop.html

Text Editor
XVI32
http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/fr...m#download


As an example I will use the game I have modified.
The original game was Magical Drop Pocket.

Graphics Editing

So first you need to open up TilEd



As you can see I have already loaded the rom into the program.

To load the rom you need to the Browser control window


And click the first icon under File (Hard drive icon with arrow pointing up)

Once you have loaded your rom the browser window will popup.

Now the hard part is trying to find what you need to modify the tiles don't match up as you can see.

I have found that under the Browser Control window if I change the size of the browser some of the tiles will start to kind of match up which makes it easier to find what you need.

To change the size use the first slider under Browser Size

Now the question is what do you do with the graphic you want to change?

Well if you go to your Editor window


you can highlight any box you want (I tend to be one or two blocks from the edge but that's a personal preference)

Now in the Browser window


If you double click on a square it will copy it to the editor window.
Now if you are putting the tiles next to each other then it will move to the next blank tile once you have added it to the editor.

If you need to put the tile somewhere else like below a tile you have already copied to the editor then click into the editor window and highlight the tile you want to copy to then go back to the browser window and double click.

Once you have the graphic you need to change into the editor you need to change to edit mode in the Editor Control Window.


Now the top three icons are as follows
1) Arrow
2) Paint Brush
3) Fill

Now the arrow mode is to select the tile you want to edit you must make sure you click on this to change tiles otherwise you will be painting onto the tile your trying to click on.

Paint Brush will allow you to editor the pixels

Fill will fill the whole box with a single colour so don't try to use it to fill in a colour on your drawing or you will lose it.

Now click on the Paint Brush icon to go into edit mode.

Now in editor control you will see a magnifying glass with a + and - this will increase and decrease the pixel size which is very handy when editing.

Change it to the right size you need.

Now the issue with NGPC games is they can only allow 4 colours per tile which creates a problem cause you can't tell what colour is what.


Now in the Colour Palette window only the first 4 colours (Orange to Red) can be used when editing a tile.

I recommend you open the rom up in the NeoPop emulator and go to the part of the game the graphic you are editing is in and hit pause.

Now you will see what colours are used in the game you can see what colour in the palette is used for that colour and draw.

Once you have drawn your new graphic you need to save the tile back into the file.

In the Editor Control window you need to click on the Arrow to get out of edit mode. Also it's a good idea to change the pixel size down to a smaller size to make it easy to copy.

Now this is where we use the Tile Tool window.


The top three icons are:
1) Arrow pointing Down will save the tile you have selected back to the file.
2) Arrow pointing up will reload the tile from the file so if you made a mistake and need the original tile use this.
3) Arrow pointing down into recycling bin will delete the selected tile.

So click the first icon to transfer the edited tile to the file once you do a warning will say that the file will be permanently modified. Click yes to save the tile. Once all tiles have been saved you need to view your work and make sure it's correct.

In the NeoPop emulator unload the rom you have and reload it and then go to where you made the changes. If everything looks right you have done well if everything hasn't the you need to re-edit.

Please note that once you have re-edited a tile and saved into the file you need to unload and reload the rom in NeoPop to see the change.

You have now learned how to change Graphics in a NGPC Rom.

Example:


Notes: It can be hard or even impossible to find certain graphics you want to change. Keep in mind that each tile uses four colours so if you count more than four colours in the graphic you are trying to find then they have most likely layered the graphics on top of each other to get more than four colours (That's why the sprites for game characters don't usually have many colours) so you will have to see if you can find which piece belongs to what. Same goes for character sprites it's hard to tell which tile goes with which animation so you have to do trial and error and only change a few tiles for the sprite and see if they match up in-game on the emulator.

Text Editing

So in most roms they create an alphabet of images to correspond to the letters you will use in-game.

This makes it very simple to find and edit what we need using plain text.

Open up XVI32

Click File > Open and select the rom.

Now that the rom is open you will see something like this:


Now you will need to open the rom in NeoPop and find the text you want and search for one of the more unique words in the sentence show on the screen.

Now to find the word you need to press Ctrl F or Search > Find.

Now you only want to find a text string and make sure Case Sensitive isn't selected in the options.

Please Note: There is an option to search up or down from your current position so remember that when you are searching for text

Press ok and it will find a match.

If it is the correct match then start changing the text.

Please Note: You can only change the same text size if it only has 10 characters then you only have 10 characters to work with.

Don't hit backspace as it will move the whole file out of place. If you do highlight the letter just before the deletion and click Edit > Insert and select text string and put a letter or space in and click ok.

Also note that some spaces will have a different code on the right side of the editor make a note of this as well.

Now I personally have two files open the original rom and my own hacked rom so if i have any issues with the changes i've made I can check the original version.

Now once you have made you change you need to save it by pressing File > Save or the Disk icon up the top left.

Now load up the rom into NeoPop and see if the text has changed and is displayed correctly.


Issues


If you come across something like this where the text is overlapping the top text then you need to check the original file and check if any of the spaces you may have typed text over has a different hex code on the right side of the window (In general if the hex code says 20 that's a normal space)

Also note that if you have a long word the program might not be able to wrap the text around to the next line. In most of the games I have seen when they have a word that needs to go to the next line they split the text up and add a - to mean the word continues onto the next line then they will usually have a space with a different hex code of 20 to mean new line then add the rest of the word after that.

General Tips
Always save a copy of your file one you have done a successful Tile edit or text change. I personally have a Zip file that i just drag the file i'm working in on top of the zip to be a backup in case the change wrecks the file