Technical problems here :(

[Ozma]

Ieep!!

Hey, I'm a new guy here, cheers to all of you hard working hackers of the game, you're truly doing a great job!!  :yay: However (and I hope I'm at the right place for this, and I hope even more it's not me just being a total noob at this thing...) there's a big number of your hacks I'm just dying to try out, and each and every damn time I try downloading them they seem to NEVER work with my emulators...

What happens: I download a given hack, try to run it in my emulator, the emulator starts up but the game just never loads. I'd assume the given hack is a bogus file or something, so I try and re-download it from another source: same problem applies. It even extends to hacks from other games than Metroid, so I assume I'm doing something wrong... Can someone help me with this?

I'm willing to add up any info needed to solve the problem, so if you need more to help debugging me, ask away. Meanwhile I'll try and find some tutorials for hacking these metroid games, maybe I can come up with something...  :grin:

Thanks in advance, and keep up all the good work!  :yay:

[thedopefish]

If a hack doesn't work, chances are you didn't patch it correctly.  But based on the wording of your post, maybe you didn't patch anything at all and are trying to load a .IPS in your emulator?

Either way, please read the handy howto guide and see if that helps.

[Ozma]

Hmmm here's something new... Patching the ROM file? Never heard of this, and yet I do possess a working hack (Metroid Z-Factor) that didn't need any patching. Moreover, I have a few hacks of LoZ A Link to the Past that worked perfectly without any patching involved...

I will add: I first saw this problem with Metroid Hydellius (which looks AWESOME) and tried it with Snes9X AND ZSnes, both didn't work. I'll check that patching thingy and update later.

Other question here, just by curiosity: I've read throughout the forum (prior to subscribing) that Metroid Fusion hacks are incredibly hard to do due to the storyline being hard to break down... Has anyone succeeded in still using the linearity of the game to create a new storyline that still looks good? (despite the fact that it's still a linear game?) I ask this because efforts seem to lead primarily towards totally eliminating the linearity of the game...   :bounce:

UPDATE: I still don't understand. I followed your guide, and tried the hard-patching technique. Not only did I scrap my already existing SM file (with saved games) instead of my back-up ROM file (my bad) but it still doesn't work after hard-patching.

UPDATE2: What the...??? I finally succeeded in clearing it all up and hard patching the whole thing (I found out what I was doing wrong) and this time... I succeed in making a working patch of Metroid Hydellius (for example) and upon starting the game, the game itself sends me a message: "This game pak is not desigined* for your SUPER FAMICOM or SUPER NES        Nintendo" (the typo is copied as read from the error message) and just nothing else happens...Bogus file?

[Quietus]

I'm not 100% certain, but it sounds like it may be a ROM issue. Either way, let's go step by step.

You need a good, clean ROM. Use Google, and search for "Super Metroid (JU) [!]".
Once you've downloaded it, check its size in Windows. It should be 3,072KB.
Now open it in your emulator, and look at the text that appears. The ROM's CRC32 should be D63ED5F8.
You now know you have the correct ROM.

Download the .ips patch you want to apply to it.
Download Lunar IPS.
Open Lunar IPS, choose the .ips file, then choose your ROM.
Once it says it's successfully patched, open the new ROM in your emulator.

That should be it. :^_^:

Oh, and regarding Fusion: No, they haven't.

[Ozma]

Thanks a bunch, it finally works! However that raises more questions than answers... (although now it's more for the sake of curiosity than anything)

The back-up metroid ROM I downloaded, once unzipped, had something like a dozen versions inside, and a few hacks as well. Without really knowing I took one of the 'regular versions' of the game, it just happened to be Super Metroid (E) [!] instead of the (JU) version, which didn't work once patched. I just can't understand how this is relevant? (Maybe it can help others, or it could help me if I decide to try my hand at some hacking later on?)

Anyways, now it works, thanks a lot for the help!  :^_^:

[PonchGaming]

So Super Metroid (E) [!] does not work because it is the european/pal version. I don't know why, but I think it is because the hacks are based around the JU version.  :^_^:

[Quietus]

Anyways, now it works, thanks a lot for the help!  :^_^:

You're welcome.

In short, every hack is created using the version I mentioned. The odd hack, such as Digital Mantra's, occasionally uses the headered version of the same ROM, but 99% of them don't. :^_^:

[Ozma]

OK so basically it's nothing more than just a technicality... I see now  :grin: thanks for the info!!

Last question: is it possible some hacks come with the already patched original ROM? (meaning I wouldn't need any patching whatsoever to play said hack?)

[thedopefish]

Last question: is it possible some hacks come with the already patched original ROM? (meaning I wouldn't need any patching whatsoever to play said hack?)

Not on this site, all of our hacks are distributed as patches for legal reasons.  But if you're downloading hacks from other random corners of the Internet, sure--some of them are probably pre-patched.

[Ozma]

Ah, that explains a lot. Then that Metroid Z-Factor I mentioned earlier probably isn't the work of one of you guys... OK then! :)

I know I said 'last question' earlier but I have some more, also if I'm being too insisting on these, do let me know and I'll search myself. I wanted to know, for that Fusion hacking I think you guys use Double Helix as a hacking tool. However, from a bit of search I've been doing lately, I've heard it's not up to date anymore? Is there something bigger/better coming out soon or is DH the way to go?

[biospark]

Is there something bigger/better coming out soon or is DH the way to go?

This guy's making one:
http://twitter.com/biosp4rk/status/652994969188237312

[Quietus]

Then that Metroid Z-Factor I mentioned earlier probably isn't the work of one of you guys... OK then! :)

Actually, it is. Metaquarius is the creator. It just means that somebody else has already patched it, then uploaded it to wherever.

[Ozma]

Oh Metaquarius is here? Neat! :D

And I suppose that (biospark) when you say 'that guy is making one' you're talking about yourself?  :grin: no ETA on that I'd wager though? If not I might give DH a try in the meantime (unless you tell me it's gonna be ready in a matter of days or weeks?) anyways not like I'm trying to pull out info from you...

Personally I don't mind Fusion being linear (for now at least) and I might make the most of whatever we can get out of the game. I've seen a few people working really, really hard on that, progress seem slow, though I can understand that it's a really complicated matter... So instead of waiting for any major breakthrough I'll make the most of what's already done, and if ever I get something significant done, I'll just edit later in the event timeline or something. Anyways, it's still a ways off; it'd be my very first attempt at a hack, all games counted; the only game I've ever tried to create something out of it was Starcraft (and let's admit it, they even gave us the tools to do it, and it was fairly simple...) so despite my saying I'll do something great, don't expect anything anytime soon! xD

OK peace out, Ima gonna check all that out, make some tests, dig up some tutorials and if I got any questions I'll either come back here or create another appropriate topic elsewhere on the forum. If you never hear again from me it's either because I'm working hard on a hack or I totally gave up on the entire thing xD Any which way, wish me luck, I'm gonna need it xD

Oh!! And I forgot the obvious... Thank you very much for the help you gave me! Really appreciate it! :)

[biospark]

And I suppose that (biospark) when you say 'that guy is making one' you're talking about yourself?  :grin: no ETA on that I'd wager though? If not I might give DH a try in the meantime (unless you tell me it's gonna be ready in a matter of days or weeks?) anyways not like I'm trying to pull out info from you...

I'm aiming for a June release, but it's not a 100% guarantee.

[Ozma]

Allright, I'll check it out for sure! :)