Mega rock.exe presents,

How to Hack Your Own Sprites: The Guide

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.  Introduction
2.  Why do this?
3.  How to do this: Step by step
4.  Game Specific Screenshots
  4a.  BN1
  4b.  BN2
  4c.  BN3
  4.d  BN4
  4.e  BN4.5
  4.f   BN5
  4.g  BN6
5.  FAQ
6.  Contacting Me

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1.  Introduction         >
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Hello.  Thank you for taking your time to read this guide.  By reading this guide, you should have a better understanding on how to hack your own sprites.  I have been using this method to rip sprites for some time now.  I must say, it is definitely easier than the “normal” way.  Well that’s enough of introducing myself, now it’s time to begin this “lesson” if you may call it that.

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2.  Why do this?       >
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Why do this, for one simple reason.  Because it makes sprite ripping easier.  BN only of course.  Due to the fact that you have almost all of the game’s sprites in your reach, will you be able to rip a bunch of new sprites that possibly hadn’t been ripped before.  Also, save the hassle of OAMs because this gets the sprite in its rawest form.  It’s not that hard to take your time to read this and make it all more convenient.

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3.  How to do this: Step by step         >
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If this is your first time doing this, which it probably is, you should pay close attention to all the steps in this simple explanation.  Well, we’re going to be hacking the game, so get your VBA ready and load that rom (unless you’ve already allowed it to open the extension .gba automatically)
Before starting the steps, remember that these steps will be for BN1-5.  They use the same system of coding for Mystery Data, which we will be hacking.  I will be using BN1 as an example, so if you want, you can follow along.  This is the area of the MD I will hack.

Step 1.  Open the Memory Viewer and copy this address.
020013A0
Your screen should look like this:

The Memory Viewer is located under Tools.  It is recommended that you give this a keyboard shortcut.

Step 2.  Now I will explain what all those letter and number mean.  That in the window above is the game’s memory at that location.  It may be a bit confusing, so I highlighted the important parts you need to change.

That makes it simpler, doesn’t it?  Here’s what each colored value does:

RED changes the frame or move of that sprite.  Don’t change this now or it will freeze the game.  Always make sure to have a State Save ready in case you make a mistake.  You change the last pair in that box to values in hex.  Hex is the numbering system that is used in game programming.  It counts from 00 to 09 and 0A to 0F.  So instead of having only 99 numbers in one pair, it can hold 255 different combinations. 

GREEN is the value for the color that sprite is using.  This usually has 2 or 3 “working” colors.  Anything that doesn’t look natural, like a few ugly colors mixed in random ways, are invalid colors that are meaningless.  The Mystery Data in BN1 goes from Blue to Green to Purple to useless.  Try it yourself!  Sometimes, colors tend to mix with palettes from another frame.  These are not real colors so don’t get them confused.  Rarely does color change the physical appearance of a sprite.

BLUE is the best one of all.  This is the most important sprite mod.  Each sprite for most of the sprites in the game has a value attached to them.  So if you change it, the Mystery Data will change in front of you!  So try it out.  Change the E3 to 63 by clicking on it and typing in that value.  Now, back in the game, the MD should have changed to Roll!  It’s just that easy!

Now that I have explained the important parts, you’ve kind of got BN1 covered.  In BN2, sprite libraries are introduced.  Call it whatever you want.  Library, directory, storage, whatever.  Just understand that sprites are categorized later rather than scattered like in BN1.  This method is used for all the BN games except BN6, which will be covered later.

A question you may have now is, how do you rip sprites like this?  Well since you can get practically any sprite you want, get the one you want first.  For most frames, they will be idle since most can’t go past a move that they have been assigned.  So for moving frames, first Freeze Frame the emulator with Ctrl+N.  Now you can go back to the memory viewer and change the frame to the one you want.  Click back on the emulator and push Ctrl+N until it changes.  This should let you see every move slowly so you can rip it.  I know for a fact that Megaman’s dash in overworld for BN1 hasn’t been ripped so that rip is up for grabs.

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4.  Game Specific Screenshots>
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Below, I will post screenshots of how your memory viewer should look like for the rest of the BN games.  I will also explain some things that might confuse you from what you’re used to.  The same system is used for BN1-5, so the same exact places will have the same function.  These should be fairly easy to recognize if you understood the BN1 example.

4.a  BN1

Address:  020013A0
Area:  Internet 1
Screen:

Explanation:  Already covered.  You should already know how to freely change the sprite and animate it.

4.b  BN2

Address:  02002F00
Area:  Den Area 2
Screen:

Explanation:  Everything is the same except the directories.  See that 1C down there in the memory viewer, that’s the library.  Libraries are only valid by 4s in hex.  Here’s the list of categories.

00= Megaman (his own category, he has a lot of moves)
04= Viruses (some may not show)
08= Navis (same as above)
0C= Chip Attacks
10=  General Attacks
14= Attack Misc.
18=  People
1C=  Overworld Objects
20=  Mugshots  (animation method unknown)

That should help you find the sprite you want by entering the category first.  Also, as a note, Green Mystery Data’s color value is 1, so you might want to change that before flipping through sprites otherwise you’ll be getting crap colors.

4c.  BN3

Address:  02004624
Area:  Sci Lab 2
Screen:

Explanation:  Getting this particular Mystery Data to appear is kind of tough.  Memory-wise, this is the same, so the same setup and libraries apply.  This time MD is value 01, so just make sure to keep track of that.  The first menus appear in the end of the mugshot section.  However, the method of getting the other numbers in it is unknown.

4d. BN4

Address:  02006800
Area:  ACDC Area 1
Screen:

Explanation:  This is the first game to introduce a new library.
24= Menus
It has come to the point where menus get its own section.  In it, you can find icons, menus and screens that were normally accessible during a certain quest.  However, most objects that appear in a certain area stay in a certain area.  So this means that you can’t see some objects unless you are in the area where it appeared.  Also, notice that the frame now starts at FFFF.  I don’t know why they did this because this means that now there are 2 working frames for all sprites.  To rid of this problem, push Ctrl+N on the emulator to freeze the frame.  Go to the memory viewer and make it 0000.  Now push Ctrl+P on the emulator to unfreeze it.  Now you can begin to flip through frames.  This will apply to the games following it.

4.e  BN4.5

Address:  0200B938
Area:  Internet1
Screen:

Explanation:  Again, try to change the FFFF move value first before checking frames and state save when it’s at 0000 to save time.  The menus category is larger in this game and there are fewer mugshots.  Don’t forget that the default category is overworld, 1C, on 4th to last line.

4.f  BN5

Address:  02006ED8
Area:  OranArea3
Screen:

Explanation:  Everything is still exactly the same as it was for the previous games.  The 1C value is slightly moved now, but it’s still on the same row.  You can get a lot of valuable perfect sprites this way, including Phoenix. (value 57)

4.g  BN6

Address:  02006464
Area:  CentralArea1
Screen:

Explanation:  By looking at this memory, you might be thinking, “this look to weird”.  In my opinion, this is actually easier.  Allow me to explain with this picture.

The colored parts are the parts you should change.  They have the same function.

RED is the frame or animation value.  Make sure to reduce this to 0000 in a freeze frame.

GREEN is the color value.  It starts at 01 so make it 00 when you are flipping through sprites.

BLUE is the sprite value.  It starts at 02.  You must change this after setting a new category for the category to take effect.

TURQUOISE is the category value.  This makes sorting sprites easier.  However, most sprites won’t appear by setting this to a category anymore.  For example, in BN5, you could see Django in the 0C category, but not anymore.  There will be an unusual amount of white dots inmost sections.  To save you time, I’ll re-list the valid category values.

00= Megaman (this includes Beast-outs)
04= Viruses
08= Navis (boss navis don’t show)
0C= Chip Attacks
10=  General Attacks
14= Attack Misc.
18=  People
1C=  Overworld Objects
20=  Mugshots  (animation method unknown)
24=  Menus

That should cover this game and therefore, all the games.  Hope all this helped.

5.  FAQ

This should answer frequently asked questions.

Q: Where do I get the games?
A: Can’t do that.  You have to find it yourself.

Q: You don’t explain how to hack BN2 only 1.  Why?
A: The same method is used as well as the same exact positions.

More to come soon…

6.  Contacting Me

You can contact me via PM at TREZ (The Rockman EXE Zone) or Sprites INC.  I do not want e-mails.  You may ask questions at this guide’s topic.  Also, this guide can only be posted on The Rockman EXE Zone (http://www.freewebs.com/the_Rockman_EXE_Zone/) and Sprites INC (http://www.sprites-inc.co.uk/forum/) I typed this guide up so therefore I own copyright to work that is mine.

Mega rock.exe out!