tool ROM Hacking Tool and Resource Collection

[Drayano]

I've been digging through some of my old files and found a bunch of tools and resources I used on my hacks, some of which the links seem to have been lost since. I thought I'd compile a list of some of the tools I've used in the past as well as a couple others that I thought might be useful. If a developer has his/her tool listed here and doesn't want it to be, let me know and I'll take it off.

The titles of the tools/resources act as the download links. I've tried to add the authors of the tools wherever possible but I don't know all of them. I'm also happy to add any suggestions to the list.

I did not make any of these tools. (Besides some additions to a text file, at least...)

2016-10-22: Some tools supplied by Hiro TDK have been added.

There are general DS tools in bond's thread that may also be of use.

Generation IV

NOTE: The recommended Gen IV hacking tools have changed considerably since this thread was made.

PPRE has been superseded by DSPRE which is significantly better and less buggy.

It is highly, highly recommended to use DSPRE instead of PPRE!!

DSPRE can be found here.

You may also want to consider the much newer Pokéditor (found here) over the other tools below for editing things like Pokémon stats, moves, etc.

---

Project Pokémon ROM Editor (PPRE)

Authors: SCV, Alpha and more (?)

Thread: https://projectpokemon.org/forums/showthread.php?303-PPRE-Project-Pokemon-s-ROM-Editor

PPRE is the quintessential hacking tool for Gen 4, allowing you to edit Pokémon, trainers, scripts, overworlds, wild Pokémon and more. However there are some issues with script compilation, particularly with movement commands that cause freezing ingame in HGSS. In these cases you may be able to simply save the map again in an older version of PPRE to compile the script correctly.

Known bugs in PPRE include the aforementioned script issues, not maintaining the PokéBall seal or ability (HG/SS only) values, messing up learnsets when saving a Pokémon with a full 20 level up moves, and incorrectly saving some of the fishing spots in Platinum and HG/SS. It's unfortunately not really in development anymore, so those bugs will probably never be fixed, but you can skirt around them. Ignoring those things it's really, really good and pretty much necessary for any Gen IV hack.

PokéDSPic

Authors: ???

PokeDSPic is a tool that allows you to look at graphical assets such as Pokémon sprites and export and import PNGs to modify them. I'm not really sure where this tool came from but I know I used it to modify some sprites in HG/SS. There are two versions included in the download - one is for Diamond and Pearl only, and the other for PtHGSS only. With that said, the DP one is needed for some graphics in HG/SS such as trainer backsprites. (Thanks, Hiro!)

PokéTex

Authors: ???

I quite honestly can't remember what this tool is for but I think PokéTex is a useful tool when dealing with overworld sprites in the Gen 4 games.

PtHGSS Lua Scripts

Authors: Kaphotics

This zip file contains two LUA scripts written by Kaphotics that will tell you the XY co-ordinates of your player character on the map they are on. One is for Platinum, the other for HG/SS. You can load LUA scripts by going to Tools > Lua Scripting > New LUA Script Window in DeSmuME. The co-ordinates will appear as an overlay at the top left corner of the bottom screen.

Overworld Sprite IDs

Authors: ???, Drayano

This is a list of overworld sprites in HG/SS with the decimal numbers that correlate to their identifiers, i.e. set an overworld to have the matching sprite ID in PPRE and it'll show up as that. The original list only had up to the Mew sprite but I extended it when dealing with HG/SS itself. Some of this list may also apply to Platinum but I'm not sure.

HG/SS US Texts Excel Workbook

Authors: HiroTDK

This is a searchable workbook of all text files in HeartGold and SoulSilver. The search results in Excel point to file and line numbers so that you can easily locate them in SDSME. I have a workbook transcribed for each language, but I haven't run the organization scripts on the other languages yet because my laptop is currently out of commission.

EDIT:
Tools merged from other posts - 

Evolution Editor For D/P

Nitro ROM Explorer

Narc File Replacer

NDSeditor Rom Explorer

Pokemon Data Editor for D/P

Tahaxan Rom Explorer

Wild Pokemon Editor for D/P/P

Pokemon Trainer Editor for D/P/P

Pokemon Sprite Inserter/Extractor

Tile Molester

DSBuff

DSLazy

NDSheader

NDSTop

thenewpoketext

ndssndext

Generation V

Black/White Wild Editor (BWWE)

Authors: ??? (KazoWAR?)

Thread: N/A

A wild Pokémon editor for BW and B2W2. Allows editing of wild Pokémon in any map with toggles for seasons and Pokémon formes. The original thread seems to be lost.

Black/White Trainer Editor (BWTE)

Authors: KazoWAR, Kaphotics

Thread: https://projectpokemon.org/forums/showthread.php?13273-B-W-Trainer-Editor

Trainer editors for BW and B2W2, though they are separate files. KazoWAR made the BW tool which was later extended by Kaphotics to support B2W2. Allows editing of any trainer's Pokémon, items held, Pokémon formes used etcetera. A 1000 slot version is also supplied for developers who append further trainer files onto the NARC than what is originally in the game.

Black/White Sprite Editor (BWSE)

Authors: KazoWAR

A sprite editor for BW and B2W2. Allows editing of Pokémon and trainer sprites. Do note that it likely will not preserve animations.

Black/White Overworld Editor (BWOE)

Authors: KazoWAR

An overworld editor for BW and B2W2. Allows editing of overworld appearances.

Black/White Mugshot Editor (BWME)

Authors: KazoWAR

A mugshot editor for BW and B2W2. Allows editing of mugshots such as those that appear when you battle Gym Leaders or the Elite Four.

Project Pokemon Text (PPTXT)

Authors: SCV

Thread: https://projectpokemon.org/forums/showthread.php?11582-PPTXT-Text-editing-tool

A text editing tool for BW and B2W2. Allows you to edit text in-line as well as dump entire scripts.

OxATTACK

Authors: Oxnite

Thread: https://projectpokemon.org/forums/showthread.php?17553-OxNITE-s-Pok%E9mon-Black-amp-White-Tools

An attack editing tool for BW and B2W2. I haven't personally used it but it looks clean and feature complete.

Pokémon ROM Changer (BW)

Authors: ???, Andibad

Thread: https://projectpokemon.org/forums/showthread.php?17426-Pokemon-ROM-Changer

An all around tool for Black and White, allowing editing of species, moves, encounter slots and evolutions. Be warned that Pokémon ROM Changer works on absolute offsets, so any sort of extensions whatsoever will stop the program from working if the offsets it's targeting are shifted. May be best used on a fresh ROM to edit what you want, then transplanting the NARCs to your overall project. Unsure who the original developer was but Andibad provided the translation for English users.

Pokémon ROM Changer (B2W2)

Authors: ???, Kaphotics

Thread: https://projectpokemon.org/forums/showthread.php?17426-Pokemon-ROM-Changer

Same as above, but for B2W2. Versions for my Blaze Black 2 and Volt White 2 hacks are also available in the thread. Unsure who originally made it but Kaphotics provided the English translation.

B2W2 Lua Scripts  

Authors: Kaphotics

A number of LUA scripts for Black 2 and White 2. I don't remember the contents exactly but it does include a LUA to show your character's X/Y position on the map.

Twistedfatal's Pokemon BW2 Toolbox

http://i.imgur.com/QHtxuAC.pngCross Generational (IV and V) Tools

Spiky's DS Map Editor (SDSME)

Authors: Spiky-Eared Pichu aka Markitus95

GitHub: https://github.com/MarcRiera/SDSME

Thread: https://projectpokemon.org/forums/showthread.php?26374-SDSME-Spiky-s-DS-Map-Editor

SDSME is a map editing tool for DPPtHGSSBWB2W2 as well as an alternative to PPRE for some things such as trainer Pokémon and wild data. Unlike PPRE the wild Pokémon areas aren't named directly and you must cross reference IDs with the maps listed on the main screen to find the correct area. Trainers are listed normally, however. I can't comment much on SDSME as I haven't used it and I definitely haven't tried the map editing parts. Tips should be available in any threads about it, though development of SDSME has since been discontinued.

ANDT

Authors: Andibad

GitHub: https://github.com/andibadra/ANDT

Thread: https://projectpokemon.org/forums/showthread.php?26663-Andi-Pok%E9mon-Hack-Tools

ANDT is a tool by Andibad composed of a few different features, some of which work on both Gen 4 and 5. According to the description it is deprecated but I wasn't able to find a more recent version. ANDT has the ability to modify movesets, evolutions and experience tables on Gen 4 and 5, wild encounters on DPPt and Hidden Hollow encounters on B2W2. As far as I know this is the only Hidden Hollow editing tool out there, so I would recommend this tool just for that. I've not personally used it but I believe I've used a standalone version of the hollow tool before (which no longer exists) and it worked great.

crystaltile2

Authors: ???

crystaltile2 is an all-purpose DS editing tool. I admittedly don't really know the extent of what it's capable of but it has a very convenient way of importing and exporting NARC files into the ROM by clicking the little DS looking icon near the top. There are other ways to pull NARCs in and out but this is one of the most convenient. It was made by Chinese developers, hence why a large amount of the tool isn't written in English.

G3DCVTR

Author: ???

This converts 3D files for NDS games. It's command line only.

Nitro SDK Plugins for 3DS Max 2010

Authors: Nintendo

These allow you to export 3D models from 3DS Max 2010 for use in NDS games. These aren't allowed to be posted here, so you'll have to search or ask around to find them.

BTX Editor

Author: Kazowar

Thread: https://projectpokemon.org/forums/showthread.php?9873-BTX-overworld-editor

This allows you to export and import sprite sheets from the texture files in the game, most notably, overworld sprites. It's not a great program, and it bugs out and doesn't work with specific files, but it mostly works and is much less demanding than PokeTex.

NARCTool

Authors: natrium42, modified by unknown

This tool allows you to decompress and compress NARC files to and from folders. Since Tinke can easily decompress and extract NARCs as folders, it's only real use is rebuilding NARCs from folders.

Tinke

Authors: pleonex and various contributors

Thread: http://gbatemp.net/topic/303529-tinke-072/

This is an all purpose tool for NDS hacking. You can look at the file structure and import and export files and NARCs. It has a very basic hex editor. You can view, import, and export images, models, textures, et cetera. There's so much more this can do too. This is a very powerful tool for the graphical side of NDS ROM hacking.

Mario Kart DS Course Modifier -  EDIT - Link Broken

Authors: Gericom

Thread: https://gbatemp.net/threads/mkds-course-modifier.299444/

This is another NDS hacking tool like Tinke, that's pretty powerful and has a lot of features. This one is specialized for editing Mario Kart DS, but it has some useful functions for us. It's really good at editing single frame textures, but not animations. There's a function for splitting and rejoining texture files and models. It's very specific, but I used it to pull the protagonists sprites from the Magnet Train animation. It also has a decent converter for graphic files.

The Console Tool

Authors: lowlines

Thread: http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,8407.0.html

This is a powerful ROM hacking tool that can be used for many systems. I really only use it for occasionally editing palette files though. It supposedly has a pretty powerful 3D Model viewer, but for some reason, I've never been able to access it.

Generation VI

PK3DS

Authors: Kaphotics, SciresM

GitHub: https://github.com/kwsch/pk3DS

Thread: https://projectpokemon.org/forums/showthread.php?44950-pk3DS-XY-ORAS-ROM-Editor-amp-Randomizer

Pretty much the only thing you need to make a Gen 6 hack, PK3DS is an all-purpose tool developed by Kaphotics (with some input from SciresM such as the wild editing tool) that lets you modify pretty much anything that's currently possible. Wild Pokémon, trainer Pokémon, some graphical assets, moves, items, marts etc. Scripting isn't offered because Gen 6 scripting isn't possible, but you can do pretty much anything else.

The download link there is the latest master release on PK3DS, so it includes static encounter editing and other features not in the release version on Kaphotics' thread for the tool. Be warned that some parts may be unstable. Though in my experience it's all been pretty awesome. PK3DS is also still in development, though for Gen 6 it is pretty much complete.

Ohana3DS

Authors: gdkchan, Reisyukaku

Thread: https://projectpokemon.org/forums/showthread.php?44168-Ohana3DS-(BCH-Tool)

Ohana3DS is a BCH editing tool that allows you to modify models within the Gen 6 games. A lot of helpful information is provided in the linked thread. The download link offered here is the latest release of the old Ohana3DS, but a new version written in C# is currently in development.

 

EDIT: The mirror links above will take you to the file's new home in the Downloads section.

Edited December 13, 2023 by Drayano

[evandixon]

What, no Mystery Dungeon tools (all joking aside, mine are still in active development and are not ready to be on this list yet).

That's a nice list! Stickied!

[Drayano]

Haha, sorry, I keep forgetting MD hacking is even a thing! By all means put them on there when they're ready

Thanks for the sticky.

[Hiro TDK]

Thanks Drayano. For the record though, PokeDSPic DP is still useful for HG/SS. There are a few things that still need it, like trainer backsprites.

[Drayano]

Ah, wasn't aware. Added a note in, thanks.

[Hiro TDK]

Is this a list that we can add resources to? Because I have a few more useful ones for Gen IV. When I get home I can provide some download links and descriptions.

[Drayano]

Yeah, absolutely. Just pop them in here and I'll add them into the first post when I get a chance.

[Hiro TDK]

I've made a few resources and found a few around the web that seem to have disappeared since.

G3DCVTR

Author: ???

This converts 3D files for NDS games. It's command line only.

Nitro SDK Plugins for 3DS Max 2010

Authors: Nintendo

These allow you to export 3D models from 3DS Max 2010 for use in NDS games. These aren't allowed to be posted here, so you'll have to search or ask around to find them.

BTX Editor

Author: Kazowar

Thread: https://projectpokemon.org/forums/showthread.php?9873-BTX-overworld-editor

This allows you to export and import sprite sheets from the texture files in the game, most notably, overworld sprites. It's not a great program, and it bugs out and doesn't work with specific files, but it mostly works and is much less demanding than PokeTex.

HG/SS US Texts Excel Workbook

Authors: HiroTDK

This is a searchable workbook of all text files in HeartGold and SoulSilver. The search results in Excel point to file and line numbers so that you can easily locate them in SDSME. I have a workbook transcribed for each language, but I haven't run the organization scripts on the other languages yet because my laptop is currently out of commission.

NARCTool

Authors: natrium42, modified by unknown

This tool allows you to decompress and compress NARC files to and from folders. Since Tinke can easily decompress and extract NARCs as folders, it's only real use is rebuilding NARCs from folders.

Tinke

Authors: pleonex and various contributors

Thread: http://gbatemp.net/topic/303529-tinke-072/

This is an all purpose tool for NDS hacking. You can look at the file structure and import and export files and NARCs. It has a very basic hex editor. You can view, import, and export images, models, textures, et cetera. There's so much more this can do too. This is a very powerful tool for the graphical side of NDS ROM hacking.

Mario Kart DS Course Modifier

Authors: Gericom

Thread: https://gbatemp.net/threads/mkds-course-modifier.299444/

This is another NDS hacking tool like Tinke, that's pretty powerful and has a lot of features. This one is specialized for editing Mario Kart DS, but it has some useful functions for us. It's really good at editing single frame textures, but not animations. There's a function for splitting and rejoining texture files and models. It's very specific, but I used it to pull the protagonists sprites from the Magnet Train animation. It also has a decent converter for graphic files.

The Console Tool

Authors: lowlines

Thread: http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,8407.0.html

This is a powerful ROM hacking tool that can be used for many systems. I really only use it for occasionally editing palette files though. It supposedly has a pretty powerful 3D Model viewer, but for some reason, I've never been able to access it.

[Drayano]

Excellent, thanks. Added them to the first post.

[CrystalLink]

Iv'e made a list of some scripts in SDSME format for use with SDSME:

https://projectpokemon.org/forums/showthread.php?50505-SDSME-scripting-information-(HGSS)

I update it whenever I find new scripts.

[D'Alessandro Lucas]

Good morning all
I wanted to know if there was a tool to modify the fixed pokémon like the legendary in the games of the fifth generation ??

[0x3DD3CE]

I'm not sure if there's a tool, but if you really wanted to, opt for hex editing

[redboy50]

where is the magnet train and protagonist cut scene overworld? narc file? can anyone please tell me?

Edited August 10, 2020 by redboy50

[DemonswordDeren]

I'm trying a hack in HG. but for me the game freezes in many places. does anyone know how i can fix this?

This usually happens when an NPC has to run towards me.
from the man who gives you the wondrous ones. Or after fighting Proton in Slowpoke Well

 

[Aaron Darkus]

Hello there.

When I try to use PPRE to edit abilities of a certain pokémon (let´s say I´m swapping Pachirisu´s Run Away with Lightning Rod) in hackroms such as Renegade Platinum for pure curiosity, the game cannot recognize the change and only accepts either Pick Up or Run Away when Ioad the .nds file in an emulator (the ROM is rewritten correctly according to PPRE but it doesn´t reflects the change in the game) or directly the pokémon loses the ability and nothing appears in the text square data.

This specially happens when one tries to make additional changes in PkHex, but also in the case that the ROM doesn´t goes through PkHex and is just modified in PPRE.

Any suggestions?. Thanks.