ROM Hack So, What can we do as far as 3DS ROM hacks are concerned?

[AtomSmasherMazionga]

Like, for example, editing maps and such in Fire Emblem/ Pokemon games? I know there probably isn't much we can do at this point, but is there anything MAJOR that we CAN do at this point? I ask purely out of curiosity....and the fact that I've always wanted to make my own Fire Emblem ROM hack.... but yeah, you guys are more knowledgeable about these things than I am, I've been stuck in Skyrim for the last 40k or so hours...

 

[Deleted member 370283]

I know there probably isn't much we can do at this point...

You can do pretty much anything to a 3DS game at this point.
We have tools now that allow for dumping the programs themselves, and from there, you can extract the RomFS and ExeFS. Then you're pretty much set to do what you want, providing you understand the fileypes/formats in the RomFS, and you know how to edit code if need-be.

 

[AtomSmasherMazionga]

You can do pretty much anything to a 3DS game at this point.
We have tools now that allow for dumping the programs themselves, and from there, you can extract the RomFS and ExeFS. Then you're pretty much set to do what you want, providing you understand the fileypes/formats in the RomFS, and you know how to edit code if need-be.

Wait, seriously? and yet I never see any good rom hacks (or any at all, really, besides Pokemon). wonder why that is?

 

[PabloMK7]

Wait, seriously? and yet I never see any good rom hacks (or any at all, really, besides Pokemon). wonder why that is?

There are some rom hacks right now, however, because the lack of tools to edit the files there aren't many (for example, there aren't any public tools to make your own bcmdl, aka model files)

 

[dj505]

Most files can be edited, as it's been long enough that they've been reverse engineered nearly fully. However, some games use their own proprietary files (like Project Mirai's DSC song charts and Taiko no Tatsujin's beatmaps, among many other games), and most of these files would take a lot of effort to reverse engineer, and the player base is notably smaller.

 

[anhminh]

Basically everything can be done but it take a lots of work to be done so no one really want to do it.

 

[AtomSmasherMazionga]

Most files can be edited, as it's been long enough that they've been reverse engineered nearly fully. However, some games use their own proprietary files (like Project Mirai's DSC song charts and Taiko no Tatsujin's beatmaps, among many other games), and most of these files would take a lot of effort to reverse engineer, and the player base is notably smaller.

Oh, I see.Guess a lot has changed since the GBA days, huh?

 

[sickneckbeardbro]

Most files can be edited, as it's been long enough that they've been reverse engineered nearly fully. However, some games use their own proprietary files (like Project Mirai's DSC song charts and Taiko no Tatsujin's beatmaps, among many other games), and most of these files would take a lot of effort to reverse engineer, and the player base is notably smaller.

Perhaps I may be misinformed, but where are the tools for 'most' of the 3DS file types? We have some for most of the popular games, but I feel like you're making a pretty big exaggeration to say 'most' of the files can be edited. While it's possible and likely that developers would use the same or similar techniques across multiple games, I don't think those 10 or so games we can reliably edit would provide enough information for the other 1100+ 3DS titles.

 

[FAST6191]

Perhaps I may be misinformed, but where are the tools for 'most' of the 3DS file types? We have some for most of the popular games, but I feel like you're making a pretty big exaggeration to say 'most' of the files can be edited. While it's possible and likely that developers would use the same or similar techniques across multiple games, I don't think those 10 or so games we can reliably edit would provide enough information for the other 1100+ 3DS titles.

Got hex editor? Can edit the file. The hardware is known and you can debug things if you would rather not do static analysis, though it is far more annoying than systems with emulators which probably answers part of "why the lack?" (the other being a lack of games on the system, that being why I don't bother).
As the system is totally owned now you could edit any aspect, compared to say the earlier DSi hacks where you would probably be limited to the hardware the game supported (no making a camera hack on a game which never used cameras, not common on current systems but some NES, SNES and GB/GBC hackers do expand things to other mappers, chips, mbcs and such) or some the earliest 3ds stuff where it was the ROMFS side of things that was mainly known and able to be fiddled with, or more limited memory hacking.
About the only times you will ever meet a system where everything is known is arcade boards with mame and co. They document everything really and often note where game aspects are stored in them. Barring some weird pokemon hacking forums the act of ROM hacking tends to be seen as pulling apart the files and figuring out what they do, before editing them however you please. Tool using is fine, and while I said hex editor before it is a right pain in the arse to edit most files in them so you do want to get/make something better before long, and the end results of games hacked to do interesting things (and a billion pokemon starter editor/game breaking hacks) does favour those games with tools.

Oh, I see.Guess a lot has changed since the GBA days, huh?

The GBA had emulators from day 0, I suppose if you are talking about files the GBA does not have a filesystem but as far as being able to edit the games to do what you like the yeah I guess the 3ds is worse off.

 

[sickneckbeardbro]

I can't dispute any of that, my first OoT 3D edit was using a hex editor as I couldn't figure out how to repack the CTXB, although now we have tools that can extract and repack them. Look at the SMW hacking for example, they're practically rewriting the game with ASM hacks at this point, but it's only a small community as it requires a lot of knowledge of ASM and the game itself. It's not until these people make tools that are more accessible to the masses that those scenes really take off. I feel this is what the OP was looking for especially with their example of Fire Emblem and Pokemon which are two of the most popular games. Other than SSB, NSMB2, MH and some others I'm overlooking, I don't think we are at that point for a lot of games which is what I was trying to imply.