ROM Hack [Help] Experiencing issues with running oras roms

[apollos]

I've got an ods 10.5.0-30u and i'm currently using menuhax as my entrypoint. I'm trying to run a rom hack i made where i swapped out brenden's model with zinnia's for all his overworld and in-battle models, but I can't get it to run. I've got no other roms to compare and see if this is an issue with this particular rom or something else is at fault. I've reread all the different how-to threads on gbatemp, and I've also rewatched any instructional videos (operationidroid's, specifically) to see if i've missed a step or other vital information.

hans starts up correctly, and when i hover over the Romfs -> SD option it doesn't indicate the path in invalid. because i reset my AS game, it loads up the language selection screen. when i choose my selection (english), the screen goes black like it does before the intro only the intro never starts.

here's what i've done:

• i got braindump and dumped AS onto my sd. it had my original save file on it when i did.
• i used the romfs extractor to extract romfs.bin.
  i renamed the "romfs_" folder to "romfs".
• i used garc unpacker to access the overworld models (a/0/2/1) and in-battle models (a/1/3/3), and i overwrote brenden's file names with zinnia's data.
• i used garc tools to repack the folders.
• once the .garc file was created, i removed it's extension and deleted the file with the same number as it.
• i used romfs builder to turn the romfs folder back into a rom file. when prompted to save, i have the file name "0011C500.romfs"
• i opened up HxD and deleted offsets 00-FFF under (offset h)*
• i made a "hans" folder at the root of the sd card, and placed 0011C500.romfs there.

• *i've heard hans auto-trims the first 1000 offsets so i tried loading the rom with the offsets intact, and it didn't solve my issue.

on all the troubleshooters i found, they say the black screen described above is because i didn't follow the instructions. is this the case? am i missing something?