Compressed art for newbies

JcFerggy?s Compressed Art Guide(Info provided by Rahim/Shadow)

Please note: We(The Staff Of Post My Forums) are not responsible for the damage to your computer or rom.

Things To Get:

? Tile Layer Pro [TLP]
? The Sega Data Compressor [TSDC]
? Hex Workshop (The best free hex editor)
? ChaoSaX-Pal (optional ~ You can get this to check your games palettes with TLP)
? Ese / Ese II (To fix that F#&kin checksum)
? Some Emulator
? Your Rom (Duh)


Okay, un-zip / un-rar everything and open TSDC.


Click on Nemesis under Decompress.


Search through the list till you find the art or sprite you want. (Make sure you have the right rom fore the file you want, There is a difference between Sonic 2 beta and final) Write it down or open a word document to save it, you will need it later. When you have the file you want, either copy its number (Offset) into the ?Offset (hex)? line. Next look for your rom for the ?Source File? line by clicking ?Set?


Find your rom file and click ?Open?. Now to choose where your art or sprite is going to be, click ?Set? beside ?Destination File?


Pick any name to name your file (preferably a name related to the art) and put ?.dat? at the end of the name. Once that?s done, click save and then click ?Decompress? at the bottom of the window. Now you have decompressed art ready to edit. Open up TLP, and then open up your art. (You need to choose ?All Files? at the bottom of the ?Files of Type? list)


Now click on the drop-down menu ?View?, click ?Format?, and then click ?Genesis?.


Now you see something, but the color is all messed up. (You can still work like this and have it turn out fine in the game, but this next step is to make sure it looks good) Open ChaoSaX-Pal and go to the pallet line your art / sprite is on. (Most things run on Sonic?s pallet, but specific level art runs on the levels palette) Now double click on a color in TLP and switch back and fourth between windows till your palette is the one your art is on.


Now you have all the 8x8 squares that your art is located. Now go to the drop-down menu ?Palette? and click ?Transfer to Arranger?, now when you click and drag the 8x8 tiles, they will be in the right palette, because if you didn?t ?Transfer to Arranger?, the color would be all messed up. Most compressed art is listed from top to bottom, so most times it easy to put the 8x8 tiles together.
Once you have the art / sprite together, you can edit it in the ?Tile Editor? window, by clicking on a 8x8 square and then clicking on a color in the ?Palette Editor?, and then start editing.


Once you have your art / sprite finished, save your work under ?File?, ?Save?, and then close TLP down. Open up TSDC again, and click ?Nemesis?, but this time under ?Compress?.


Click ?Set? beside ?Source Data?. Find the art / sprite you were just editing, then click ?Open?.Now click ?Set? beside ?Destination File?. Name the file anything you want (again, make it related to the art) but this time, put .bin at the end. (DO NOT PICK YOUR ROM, IT WILL OVERWRITE IT) Once that is done, click ?Compress?.

Continue On Next

 

*NOTE ? When using Hex Workshop, always have a back-up of your hack before you change anything.*

Open up Hex Workshop and click ?Open? under ?file?


Click your rom and click ?Open?, next Click ?Open? again under ?File?, but this time click your art / sprite and click ?Open?. Now you have two tabs open, one with your rom, and one with your art / sprite.


Click on your art / sprite tab, and select all the data there either by clicking and dragging to select all the data, or by going to ?Edit?, ?Select All?. (The second one is better because you might miss some data by clicking and dragging) Then right click on the data and click ?Copy?, or go to ?Edit?, ?Copy?.
Now go back to your Rom and scroll to the very bottom to where the hex stops, right click after or below the last number.


Copy down that offset (Not the example offset, the one on your screen) to the word document where you already copied the art offset, then click ?paste? at the bottom of the hex file. Make sure you paste at an even offset.


(This will pop up but don?t worry, its normal) Click ?OK?



You should see red numbers, which just means it?s the data added to your file before you save.


Now click on the Flashlight and search for the first offset. (The art / sprite offset) In the bottom right window are all the search results of your search. (If there are more than one result, than go to the first one and continue from there, and if it F#&ks up your hack, try again with Hex workshop, but try the next one, and so on, and so on, and so on, until you get it right) Double click on one result and you will go to yellow highlighted text. Click and drag over that text and type in the second offset (The one you got from the bottom of Hex Workshop, but take away two zeros so if it said 0008132A, you would type in 08 13 2A) Now click ?Save? from the ?File? drop-down menu, and you should have a playable hack with your compressed art. Test your hack with Gens or Kega or what ever Genesis emulator you have.


If you?re Checksum is bad. Open ESE and click the drop-down menu Herramientas, (Tools) and click on Checksum Check. Click ?Load MD / 32x Rom? Click on your hack and Click ?Open? Is should be wrong, so click ?Fix Checksum? Test your hack with Gens or Kega or what ever Genesis emulator you have.

:P HAVE FUN :P


Credits:
- Jcferggy ? Writer of the Guide.
- Rahim / Shadow ? Help with the info.
- Sota - Hoasting for pictures.

 

Thank you, I was about to bump this because no-one replyed, and I wanted atleast one.

Sevral people say this guide helps ALOT, and other people are making guides on SSRG, so I decided to post mine here.(They failed the test too many times :P)

 

I am making a hack for Sonic 1 only with updated art.

I have pictures too :P








The bussbomer is kinda messed up though <_<

 

@ Stuntmaster - You can't import items from other games, you have to edit the art manualy. (sp?)

@ Billy - Giver, just remember to give credit, and also gave me a link to the site to check that things are alright.

 

@ drx - that's why I put n00bies, there not n00bs, there just not good at hacking yet.

@ stuntmaster - You have to decompress each bit of art, and copy eack 8x8 square by hand.

 

Okay, Ill change it, and sorry to any I have offended.