help with ips file

[Jtom82713]

so i downloaded an ips file, renamed it, then patched with lunar ips, yet snes9x doesnt play it... what am i doing wrong?

[FelixWright]

What hack is it?

You should give this a read: https://metroidconstruction.com/howto.php

[Jtom82713]

What hack is it?

You should give this a read: https://metroidconstruction.com/howto.php

any rom i download..says it patches fine but wont play

[FelixWright]

What hack is it?

You should give this a read: https://metroidconstruction.com/howto.php

any rom i download..says it patches fine but wont play

this isn't very helpful information. we need to know specifically what patches you are downloading and what rom you have because if you are using the wrong patch, or wrong ROM then the patch will not work. patches for super metroid fall into two separate camps: headered or unheadered, most being unheadered.

check out this excerpt from the howto link I shared before:

Headers:

Some SNES ROMs out there have a "header" at the beginning, while other ROMs do not. These headers were meaningful to the specialized hardware used to dump the ROMs from physical cartridges originally, but don't serve any useful purpose today. All emulators can handle both headered and unheadered ROMs, so as far as playing them, there's no concern either way. Where headers DO matter, however, is with creating patches and applying patches.

Fortunately, the rule is simple: If your .IPS file is designed for an unheadered ROM and you apply it to an unheadered ROM, everything is fine. Likewise, if your .IPS file is designed for a headered ROM and you apply it to a headered ROM, everything is fine. If you mix and match, the ROM is likely to not work at all, and you're going to have a bad day.

Most hacks will specify if their patch is for a headered or unheadered ROM (they may use the abbreviations [H] and [UH]); some hacks will provide patches for both. You can generally assume all patches are intended for unheadered ROMs unless it says otherwise, as unheadered is the norm.

If you like to play a lot of hacks, you're better off keeping copies of the original Super Metroid ROM in both headered and unheadered varieties. That way, whenever you download a new hack, you can copy whichever ROM is appropriate and start playing quickly and easily. If you don't already have both variants available, it's easy to convert between headered and unheadered ROMs.

First, identify if your existing ROM has a header or not: an unheadered "Super Metroid (JU) [!].smc" ROM should be 3145728 bytes in size and have an MD5sum matching 21f3e98df4780ee1c667b84e57d88675, while a headered ROM should be 3146240 bytes in size (the MD5sum will vary based on what is in the header, if it is all zeros then it should match 24863a97246994892c138a4c3d6b8749). In either case, make a backup copy first, then use a tool such as SMILE (the option is under Tools -> Header), nsrt, or SNES Tool to add or remove a header. If you're brave, you can even use a hex editor and just delete the first 512 bytes (to remove a header) or insert 512 bytes at the very beginning (to add a header).

[Jtom82713]

ok i downloaded Polarity_Release_1.45.ips and my rom is Super Metroid (E) [!].smc..not sure if this helps

[RT-55J]

The "(E)" indicates that you're using the European version of the ROM. You need to find the US/Japanese version.

[FelixWright]

ok i downloaded Polarity_Release_1.45.ips and my rom is Super Metroid (E) [!].smc..not sure if this helps

Polarity 1.45 is for an unheadered USA/Japan Super Metroid ROM. (JU) you have the PAL ROM. (E)

We can't tell you where to get the correct Super Metroid ROM (JU), you'll have to figure that out yourself. Perhaps try using everyone's favorite search engine.

You can make sure you have the correct one by comparing its MD5 hash with the one on https://metroidconstruction.com/howto.php

[Jtom82713]

The "(E)" indicates that you're using the European version of the ROM. You need to find the US/Japanese version.

ah ok thx will try that