Making a rom hack on mac os x

[GameboyReviewer]

I've been trying to make a game for awhile and I wanted to do a hack but have no clue where to start, i've tried jedit but am having trouble I remember with my old pc it was easy but man its so hard with mac os x \, please you guys are my only hope.

[EarthQuake]

Any hex editor will work and I'm certain there are hex editors for a Mac. Just google around.

[Emehr]

If it's a hex editor you want, try HexEdit. It's free and has been around for years.

 

http://hexedit.sourceforge.net/

[GameboyReviewer]

I have no clue what to do lol I've been using hac-o-matic on my fiance's laptop trying to get a handle on it

[EarthQuake]

Hack-o-Matic is just an elaborate hex editor.

 

The basic idea is to open a ROM binary and look for patterns that resemble the graphics in-game. You need to make sure you're in viewing it in "bit mode", so you can see the bit patterns of the graphics. Hex-editing isn't too useful for anything else other than graphics though, unless you know the location of bytes that control other things. Usually a disassembly of the ROM aids in that, but you need a decent understanding of assembly and the 2600's internal workings.

 

If you really want to do something substantial, find a game that already has a commented disassembly available, grab a copy of the DASM compiler, and start modifying code. That's what I did.

Edited December 1, 2008 by EarthQuake

[Bakasama]

I got Hexedit and some patches to some arcade ROMs. The patches are suppose to fix bugs that result in kill screens or reset the machine. Since I didn't know what kind of programs patch ROM for Mac OS X. So I thought I could edit the hex values since I kind of read the memory locations. Okay, sounds like a good idea but ROMs get messed up. The Robotron fix at least playable but the game will reset at some point.