Editing games?

04-03-2014, 01:06 PM #1

EDIT: So I just got a big glimpse into just how much of a pain hacks can really be. Talk about biting off more than I can chew. Unless some of the data (item lists, tables for various things, etc) is stored in an easy to mod format somewhere, this isn't happening. Even then, at least one idea I had is probably out of my reach.

Hey everyone, first post so I apologize if this is in the wrong place.

I decided to revisit Xenoblade Chronicles recently, but part of that desire stems from an interest in modifying some parts of the game. Problem is, I have no idea how to do this Huh

I used WIT to extract everything from the .iso, but that's as far as I've gotten since everything shows up as garbled junk in Notepad++. What do I do from here?

Not sure if what I'm trying to do is even possible, but I figure it can't hurt to ask. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

artantaaa · 04-03-2014, 02:35 PM #2

I've had good results changing NSMB levels in the iso using Wiiscrubber. I think WIT does the same thing, but getting the files in and out of the iso is the easy part. There's an editor for NSMB levels, and you have to figure all that stuff out for Xenoblade. Your question did lead me to discover the "dump textures" and "load custom textures" features in dolphin. That might be a good place to start. You can probably change the music fairly easily too. Here's a link on that.http://mariomods.com/how-to-change-the-music-play-with-custom-soundtracks/ Good luck with your mods.

04-03-2014, 03:09 PM #3

Thanks, but I don't think those do what I'm looking for... After digging a little more, I'm not sure what I want to do is reasonably possible Sad

Still digging.

EDIT: Did a bit of reading, one of those programs might help a bit. Thanks again!

EDIT2: Wow, yeah, this looks like a no-go on several levels. Too bad.

410172 · 04-03-2014, 10:05 PM #4

Well I think you just have to replace some of the files you find in the .iso and then transfer it all back into an iso image. Currently I'm recreating Mario Kart Wii with new courses, music, text and everything; and it's all about replacing and editing those files with the right programs; depending on what kind of files you get. Can't be very different in other games though.

artantaaa · 04-04-2014, 08:27 AM #5

Quote:Wow, yeah, this looks like a no-go on several levels. Too bad.

Don't give up yet. You can probably edit lots of stuff without too much work. With the tools available, you can probably edit textures and models and maps (BRRES editor and Blender) I found this for you too:
http://gbatemp.net/threads/xenoblade-unused-beta-area-in-game.300408/
What do you want to change?

04-04-2014, 10:46 AM #6

(04-04-2014, 08:27 AM)artantaaa Wrote:
Quote:Wow, yeah, this looks like a no-go on several levels. Too bad.

Don't give up yet. You can probably edit lots of stuff without too much work. With the tools available, you can probably edit textures and models and maps (BRRES editor and Blender) I found this for you too:
http://gbatemp.net/threads/xenoblade-unused-beta-area-in-game.300408/
What do you want to change?

The problem is that I'm more interested in code than models - my artistic tendencies lie primarily in music, and I've no intentions of messing with Xenoblade's soundtrack.

Initial goals are/were to manipulate EXP gain (I wanted to remove EXP gain from quests) and possibly item data. I can more-or-less accomplish these via some existing codes, so I can get by on those for now. Some less reasonable goals I had in mind were things like altering level correction, possibly even damage calculation (the weapon glitch) and such - things I'm willing to bet involve the .dol, which means I'm probably out of luck. A more experienced programmer might be able to follow the flow of data and make something work, but that's well above my level of knowledge and experience.

I still want to poke around in the file structure and see what I can get at, but I'm not as concerned about trying it sooner rather than later now.

**KHRZ** · 04-04-2014, 08:32 PM #7

How about Action replay/gecko codes? I'm sure you can find lots of info from the AR/gecko forums. (Probably the game have som ar/gecko codes already.) From my understanding, the usual way to find a value in RAM (say your xp), is to find all values equaling your xp, then earn some xp and see what of those values changed to your new xp value.