Lavapulse Mods

Hey, yeah: the hex editor I used was HxD, which is a free program. When you open a file with HxD, you'll see a big block of hex data on the left and a narrower block of interpreted ascii data on the right, which is typical for hex programs. The left block will also have column and row headers like a spreadsheet, with two characters in each cell. (It's possible to change the number of characters per cell and the interpreter from ascii to another encoding, but that's not necessary for this project.)

You're going to be looking for "headers" in that denote the starts of each block of contained data. A header is just a term that means the part that comes at the beginning of a file and usually consists of metadata like the file's name and filetype and stuff. Basically, this means you're looking for any sort of repeated patterns.

The headers for each character's sprite will probably start sometime after the collection's own header. This means that when you open up people_pal_databin, the pattern you're looking for won't start at the very top because the collection's metadata needs to come first.

Fortunately, interpreted filenames tend to be fairly human-readable, so that should help you find the headers you're looking for.

You'll want to leave the character sprites' metadata unchanged and only swap the file's contents. This means all the code that starts in the cell after the header ends and before the next begins.

The rest is sort of just educated guess work and trial-and-error experimentation.

I agree that it's discouraging how little info there is out there for this kind of stuff, especially considering how vast the internet is. My best guess is that it's due mostly to how much specifics vary from game to game, how niche the hobby is, and, to a much lesser extent, this weird dynamic I've seen in programmer-y circles that causes people to sometimes horde information out of insecurity or elitism.

Personally, pretty much all the useful info I found on the topic came from Romhacking.net or GBAtemp.net, so that's where I'd suggest starting. It also helps to familiarize yourself with adjacent skill sets. Specifically, I'd suggest learning about how 3D models work, how encryption works, how programming works, how data is represented in computers (binary, hex, pointers, metadata, etc.), how debugging works, and how games are structured. This sounds like a lot, but really even basic familiarity will help.

Luckily, this sort of info is way easier to find; there's tons of programming, 3D modelling, game dev, etc. tutorials out there for beginners. For 3D stuff, search for beginner Blender tutorials, and for game stuff, search for tutorials made for any of the popular game engines like Unity, Unreal, or even GameMaker. All those communities are huge and full of info.

i just figured out how to run it and im so happy to finally play one of my favourite childhood games without having to pick the female farmer to marry the bachelors!! actually abt to cry!!!!! thank you!!!!!

Aaaaah that makes me so happy to hear <3 When the Mineral Town remake came out and I was finally able to romance the bachelorettes as a woman, I remember having a very similar reaction. That kind of thing is why the mod exists~

cmd: homophobia -> delete

ANB Mod Update

Been a minute since I posted about mod progress. I did end up having to use the gender swap method for the main character, and all is going well. Currently in the playtesting/dialogue hunt phase. As before, I've been fixing any preexisting typos that I come across along the way.

Gaia always knows the right thing to say.

Breaking News: ANB Secretly Run by Squirrels

The birds of A New Beginning

Good news and bad(ish) news.

Hey, yeah. I've actually gotten a couple DMs about this too from different people. I've just posted a guide here:

If you're new to downloading from Google Drive and MEGA or just want a refresher, this guide's for you.

I have a request that I hope wouldn’t be too hard to implement! is there any way to get the dialogue part of the mod without the visual part? (ie, use the default girl character, but have her be referred to as a boy or vice versa?)

You're welcome!

Yeah, that shouldn't be too hard. Basically you'd have to delete the parts of the mod that change the graphics so the character models & textures revert to the originals.

(Instructions below)