Insane Difficulty: So... how do I mod a game? - Insane Difficulty

I see there is a guide here, but it is very broad. I need details. I've seen a few videos on youtube, but I'm not sure if they are correct and produced by a true modding expert. I need information. What game is easiest to mod? Please explain why it is so. I am very young and inexperienced. Do I need programming ability? Can I completely transform a game; the way it looks, the landscape, the dialogue. That would be great. I guess I want a "Modding For Dummies." Where can I find one?

DontKickMyNuts, on 25 July 2016 - 12:23 PM, said:

Start with this: http://www.romhacking.net/start/ this is without a doubt one of the best generalized reads you can have. It'll get you started on what you may need to know.

1) It's broad because it's a generalized set of guidelines that people feel you should reference when you first start out.
2) The games that are easiest to mod are the ones where the developers went out of their way to provide tools for the game. This is more common for PC games than it is console games, with console games, you'll more than likely have to document things yourself or piggyback off of people that have already done these things.
3) In theory, you should be able to transform a game completely, it just depends on how long or how much effort you're willing to put into the mod you're doing. Some hacks like Valeria Chronicles for instance are pretty hefty hacks that completely overhaul mechanics that are present in the original game. It's pretty intense.

DontKickMyNuts, on 25 July 2016 - 12:23 PM, said:

Hello there, welcome to ID.

Here's how it is. Modding is essentially reverse engineering. This means cracking through the code of something that's already programmed. Since each game has its own what you call "engine", then there's not one guide that will cover modding every single game.

The easier games to mod are those which are already documented by a hacking community. Once you havethe documentation (and some programming skills and will to learn some ASM), then it's not that hard to slowly work on the code until it does exactly what you want. Super Mario Bros and Super Mario World are two fine examples of this (I know of SMW, and I'd bet SMB as well). The SMW community also has some good ASM noob tutorials that should give you an idea on how to get started on the reverse-engineering mindset.

Now, learning *some* ASM will be inevitably if you want your mod to turn out somewhat decently. But that doesn't mean that there aren't tools for our ease as modders. Once you know which game you want to mod, your second step (first being looking for a hacking community on that game) should be looking up what we call editors. Editors are simply programs that alter parts of the engine, making modding a much less stressful act. Those editors were done by people like you and me, who documented what they could from the engine, and then programmed an editor to edit the relevant values.

About what you can change from a game. You can change everything, as long as it is within the hardware's limitations. However, how limited you are as a modder will depend on the tools you have, on your ASM and programming knowledge, and on the time you want to spend modding. Modding takes time. A basic project will take +1 year, a decent one probably +2 years. Keep that in mind when starting.

Hope this helps. Ask any more questions, we like helping new people.

http://www.insanedif...?title=Site_FAQ

Here's another good general guide. Modding takes a lot of time. To answer your question on the easiest game to mod, find one where there's lots of good tools, where much of the code is already documented, where the game itself is mostly decently coded, and there's something good about the game outside of what you see in nostalgia glasses that makes it a good base for a mod. I'm most familiar with FFT's mechanics because that's what I've modded, but there are other good games out there for mods.

Depending on the game, you can make a decent mod without much tech knowledge. Again, not as familiar with the editors of other games but FFT's editors are 95% self explanatory and several people have also shared their asm hacks with the community. A decent mod can be made with this editor/information. If you want to make an amazing mod, it'll take more time and you'll probably have to learn asm. Don't be too intimidated with that - play around with the editors of the games first, and you'll have a better idea of what you want to accomplish, what is possible, and what you need to learn to get to that point. You can also learn much of this as you go. I've figured out several things recently that I thought was impossible 4 months ago, for example.

A complete transformation is certainly possible but requires more technical knowledge and time. These tend to require hundreds of individual hacks, custom events/sprites, changing every fight in the game etc. Those kinds of projects can take several years. Simpler projects (changing enemy stats or a couple sprites) are a lot easier and will probably take a couple days. Best bet is to work on something simple first to learn mechanics of your game and ins and outs of the editors and turn it into something better when you have a better idea of which game you want to work on and what you want out of the mod.

From the title of the thread and the name of the OP, I thought he was Clouderz at first...

Yeah, I've got nothing useful to add to what was already said.

Augestein, on 25 July 2016 - 12:49 PM, said:

That site is exactly what I was looking for, thanks. There are a lot of games I'm interested in modding. I'm going to research them all and see what appears easiest.

I am researching various games and their modding resources. I've never played FFT, but I will check it out. Thanks.

ASM is intimidating. My "tools" are currently very limited. It looks like I will have to set my goals lower than I intended (until I learn more).

ASM was intimidating to me when I first started. I didn't start learning it until about 8 months ago, but I started modding about 2 years ago. It's definitely something that you can start with simpler stuff (1-2 line code changes, disabling stuff, etc) before moving onto the next most simple stuff (formula changes) and so on. Even several little hacks can make a definite difference.

I wouldn't choose a game solely on ease of modding. Since you'll be working on it a while, you have to like the vanilla version of the game in a way to see the potential in it as a base for a mod. I'd recommend starting with a game that has a good tool written for it though. Tinkering around with editing tools can be fun and will teach you the absolute basics of modding before you move onto bigger and better things. Some people do make mods without tools (doing everything in asm), and while there's no reason why you can't learn as you go and do this, tools make everything easier (especially when just starting out) and several games are poorly coded or have limitations that are very hard to get around.

I definitely recommend playing FFT. Starting with vanilla and moving to my mod can show an example of what a complete overhaul project looks like (new dialog, new mechanics, completely rewritten content, added content, etc).