I need help getting started on ROM Hacking

[_MarcMadness_]

Hello guys and I've decided to start ROM Hacking for Ocarina of Time.

 

However I need some help finding some software to help me for my mods.

 

I don't want the mods to be too complicated but all i really want to do is:

 

-Edit the text of ocarina of time

-Edit actors

-Make and import new maps

-change exits for maps

-edit/change the music

-make my own puzzles for dungeons

 

I would really appreciate if you guys could tell me some tips and link to some software for modding. Thank You.

[mzxrules]

http://oot.cloudmodding.com/ is a good source for the nitty gritty stuff, in case you want to go beyond relying on programs to make your hacks. 

 

Scroll of Time looks good for text editing, never used it. You might want to check out http://oot.cloudmodding.com/wiki/Text_Ids for a listing of text dialogs. 

 

I don't know what you mean by editing actors. If you want to change an actor's behavior there isn't a single tool for this. If you want to change what an actor looks like, I think you can use Hylian Toolbox for this. 

 

Don't know what tools are used for making custom maps, but I can explain some things about the game engine. In OoT terminology, a "custom map" consists of a Scene, and a collection of 1 to 32 Rooms (sometimes called maps). A scene contains certain things that are global to an area (spawn points, collision mesh and exits, room transitions), while rooms consist of mainly graphical data, spawns actors, and lists what object files (graphical assets required by actors, sometimes called "groups" in older docs/Hylian Toolbox) to load.

 

To change exits, there are two ways to go about this, both of which you'll need to know. The easiest way is to modify the Entrance Table, which will simply change where existing links take you. The other way is a bit more complex, but necessary if you're making custom rooms. You start by modifying the collision for your scene so that you have spots that trigger an exit when Link stands on them. This is done by modifying an existing, or creating a new collision type and assigning it to a collision polygon. I think there's a range of like 0-15 or 0-31 possible exit numbers that can be assigned per scene... this number is arbitrary and is given meaning by the 0x13 Scene header command, which defines a list of Entrance Indexes that a particular exit will take you.

 

Making puzzles is very easy, even without programs. Modification and Addition of Switches covers the basics of puzzle design, while  Actor List (Variables) lists different actor variables, for use when spawning actors

[Netsrac]

Check out Giadrosich's Tutorial and Tool list (https://www.the-gcn.com/topic/2033-video-tutorials-to-get-started-and-master-tool-list/?hl=master+tool+list). It's very helpful for newbie's. (dunno how often I've posted this for Newcommers to see xD)

 

Also, please note that you don't need to wear an eyepatch (if you catch my drift) to get SketchUp to create custom map models. You can easily download the free version and get an obj. exporter. Tig's obj. exporter is the best one I've used so far. You could also just use Blender, but SketchUp is easier to use.

 

You should also check out xDaniels stuff here on the Forum. He writes some great programs to make modding easier.