I need your technical suggestions !

[themetroidprime40]

Hey guys I hope Im not doing a bothersome thread or asking a stupid question. But now that I began working with smile ( I have been working with the landing site  for starters ) . I understand better all the simple stuff ( basically the beginners section of the moon edit FAQ and almost all of the Intermediate section ) . However , I know there are people who are much more experienced with modding than I am . One thing that is bugging me is that I dont know how to work with hex, otherwise this doesnt allow me to do certain things I wish I could do, like for example move the ship. However first I will explain my idea. My Mod will be titled "Metroid Ascension".

Next up is the description or summary of the game, warning however, for those  who might be interesting in trying the mod once its done, this description might be a spoiler.

[spoiler]The idea is that Samus recieved a  distress signal , specifically coming deep within the deepest caverns of  of Zebes. However the only way Samus can arive at the center of this area in Zebes  is by reaching a really deep crater  known as the Crater of Area ,  which is basically on the complete other side of Zebes . She lands deep within the crater to intend to investigate. As Samus goes deeper inside the crater she finds a biolumiscent cave  in which she starts noticing weird things and starts weird things  :bounce: And suddenly "BOOM" !  :nowai: SHE HEARS A EXPLOSION ! In whichcaused many stones to collapse at the entrance and trap her inside the mysterious luminescent caverns ( Now known as the Arian caverns)  . With her ingeniousness Samus Aran understands that this was all a trap and goes further into investigation to intend to uncover such questions as "Why am I here?" "Who did this and why would the want to trap me in here ? And as she goes deeper into investigation she begins to uncover the dark secrets of the cave and the evil that hides beneath in the core of Zebes.
-Her primary mission , investigate
-Her secondary  mission, reach her ship to escape once her mission is done.Which samus will command to reubicate at the surface of the planet in order to escape. Thus the name Metroid Ascension, as she will have to ascend to the surface of the planet. [/spoiler]


So on another note, basically like about a 60 % of all the game will be focused under the ground ( like caves and etc etc )  , however  there will be those certain parts where she will be able to get some fresh air for the sake of those who would start to feel suffocated  :eyeroll:

So I basically have been working with hand drawing the maps and the rooms, however I dont know how to move rooms, and not much about doors either, so to this point all I have done is a very messy landing site   :neutral:  in which I guess I am not so content with.As you can see there are also a bunch of BTS block mistakes in there ( I think :O_o:)
So what do you guys think I should specifically work more on according to my description of my mod

[spoiler] This is the mess I have , I DONT think I would be using this at all.
[/spoiler]

I am pretty sure the GFX and the ambiance are two things I should focus alot in . The idea is to give this mod a certain athmosphere of being isolated and lost inside this relly dark yet interesting and kind of beautiful place. Anybody understand me .

[Jordan5]

So for starters, you're getting way ahead of yourself. Don't plan to make a hack when you don't know how to use SMILE. Just mess around and break things so you can learn, then if you're happy with something, keep it and move on to a new room/task.

Almost all the information you will need you can find on Grime's site and our own main site. And if you don't like reading, Mst even has some tutorial videos that you could check out. You'll need to get the basics like connecting doors and repointing data sorted before you think seriously about your hack.

If you want custom GFX, you'll need to repoint data (use this handy patch) and import your GFX, tiletables and palettes in before you build rooms you want to keep.

If you have any questions that aren't answered in the huge amount of knowledge present in the engine works or documents i linked then you could ask a question on here, or even better would be to pop over to irc (irc.esper.net #MetConst) where one or many of us will be happy to help you out.

You're right about your landing site, there's tons of BTS and tiling errors. Please, do not use it. And when building with that tileset, try to vary the tiles so it's not lots of long, straight edges or a long constant slope. Variation looks natural. Natural is good.

[FullOfFail]

Take Jordan's advice, you just gotta newb it up and break things. The truth is, by the time you actually learn how to hack, you'll either want something entirely different, or grow to dislike whatever you're working on now. We have tons of resources, but they wont make sense yet, especially without knowing hex. Come into the IRC and ask a bunch of questions sometime if you really want to get your hands dirty. You could use engine works too, but it's just easier to get a quick response for most of the questions you'd be asking. All hacking really requires is curiosity. Everything else comes with time.

[Quietus]

A word of warning regarding DSO's patch that Jordan linked: It copies one tileset multiple times, so if you want to keep the existing tiles, or use a combination, you'll need to export all of the tilesets you want first, then import them back in afterwards.

Hex isn't difficult, and most of the changes you'll make will be a case of locating the correct bytes, then typing your new letters / numbers over the top.  However, as others have said, this comes with time.  You cannot just open SMILE, tinker for one week, then know all there is to know about editing Super Metroid.  There are users here who have been hacking for years, and they're all still learning.  Learn SMILE first, and the rest will make a lot more sense when you start to move on.

[Jiffy]

Jordan5 has good advice. Mess around, get a good understanding of your game. Make a few sample ROMs to test physics and stuff, and then start.

About the room: You appear to have a lot of straight edges. I learnt that it is better to have a slope every 4 blocks or so along the floor. The mroe you know.  :colonrightv: :^_^: