20XX Tournament Edition -
created by Dan Salvato - This is a really awesome hack that not only allows you to augment your Melee experience with lots of cool and convenient features (such as stage-striking, all default tournament settings, replay saving, the Taunt Battle game mode, and more), but it allows you to do so with any unmodified console using nothing but a memory card and a special save file! Amazing! You'll want to just go watch the trailer now. Please note that this and achilles' 20XX Training Hack Pack below are actually separate projects. (So while they may use some features based on the same code, they don't officially provide support for or tie-in to one another.) Watch the trailer and learn more
here.
The 20XX Melee Training Hack Pack - created
by achilles - Experience the Melee hacking sensation that has the whole world burning for more! Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, but not by much. This thing really is pretty amazing. And although it says “Training Hack Pack”, it’s not actually just for training; it’s got a ton of great new stuff to play with: modified and new stages, character costumes, game controls, custom music playlist control, new game modes, and more. The benefit of this mod over 20XXTE is that it has more content, however the downside is that it is only playable on hacked consoles. Besides normal, unmodified characters, it also has the SD Remix cast built-in, as well as PAL variations. Check out the feature list in the OP to see all the stuff you don’t know how you lived without.
Melee: SD Remix -
created by VietGreek, Ripple, & standardtoaster - This is a carefully thought-out mod that aims to balance the cast through only conservative character buffs. In fact, this means that the higher-tier characters are barely, if at all, touched. As stated in the OP, SD Remix intends to improve the weaker characters to viable levels by: addressing their crippling weaknesses; providing them stronger offensive and defensive options in line with the stronger cast members; maintaining each character's archetype and niche. The mod does a great job to add in a bit of balance without changing the mechanics, feel, or flow of Melee. Full changelists are available.
Melee Netplay Community Build (MNCB) -
organized by Myougi - This is a build specifically geared towards playing Melee online. Useful since it provides a shared standard, meaning that online games will be the same and don't desync, while addressing some of the remaining Netplay issues and adding some nice extra content.
Tata Hack Pack -
created by tatatat0 - This is a full game mod that changes characters, game mechanics, UI, stages, and more. Characters are balanced through buffs, but with much more aggressive changes than in SD Remix. And the game has been modified to be faster, with new advanced techniques and drastically remastered character archetypes. It even has new moves and abilities. Try it out for a fresh twist!
The Falcon Ditto -
created by CaptainJazz - Do you like Falcon? Good. Have some more! And...then, even more. (Especially recommended if you also like saxophones and smooth customers.)
How-To: Gamecube Games on Your Wii U (or newer Wii) -
written by Doqtor Kirby - Title says it all.
SSB: Melee TAS. Getting Started -
written by Nakamaru - Perfect DK vs. Perfect Samus? Who would win!? Find out here! Er, at least, find out how to make a match along those lines. Or whatever else your imagination can cook up.
Burning a Texture Hacked Copy of Melee -
written by MuraRengan - Most people play their hacked copy of smash via SD card or external hard drive and a hacked console rather than disc (so you don't have to re-burn your disc after making one small change). But if you'd like to create a new disc instead, for example to play on an unmodified console, then this is the guide for you.
The Definitive Guide to Exploring File Formats (TDGTEFF) -
written by Watto and Mike Zuurman - An extensive resource that covers the basic fundamentals of hex editing, and then goes deep into how game archive formats are created and how to reverse-engineer them.
The Crazy Mod and
wParam's SSBM Website -
created by wParam - This, ladies and gentlemen, is the future of Melee hacking. It's actually ancient technology, before the Dolphin Age, that was recently found and just begun to be realized. It has the potential to encapsulate all hacks to the humble GameCube memory card, and, using an exploit in Melee's custom nametag feature, allows them to be loaded and injected into the game. This has huge implications, such as being able to use and share hacks to completely unmodified consoles! You could then even copy the hacks to another memory card by using the GC or Wii's standard memory card manager. Amazing!
YAGCD, "Yet Another GameCube Discussion" - Contains a ton of very in-depth GameCube hardware & software specs and documentation: available RAM, CPU instruction set, boot instructions, file format descriptions, and much more.
Melee dat format… -
created by revel8n - DAT files are the primary type of data file that Melee uses to store stages, characters, trophies, menus, images, fonts, and more. This thread walks you through the hierarchy of how they're made up. Needless to say, this is for advanced hacking purposes.
HAL DAT Format (Mario Kart Wiki page) -
written primarily by Tcll - Another great resource on the make-up of .dat files. It's in a little different format from above, and there isn't as much description here as you go, but still very useful. And you might find additional info with this one, especially considering that this page is still actively developed.
Post by GodFed on Relocation Tables - Relocation Tables are a specific data structure within .dat files. revel8n talks about these in his thread above, but reading this too can give you another valuable point of view, which may help connect the dots.
The Melee Toolbox -
created by DoctorKirby - This is a pack that contains a vast majority of all of the other programs for Melee modding found on these forums. Useful as a quick one-stop download, plus it has a menu system that can be used to open the programs within. Also, there is it's sister project,
Project Neko. It is foretold that at some point these two projects will merge into one, presumably by fusion dance.
Dolphin - The great emulator used to run GameCube and Wii games on PC. It also has a ton of built-in features useful to game hacking. Even if you have this already, you may want to visit their download page anyway, considering how often new, improved versions are released. Check out this
September progress report on performance boosts covering just a two-month span.
DebugFast Dolphin -
compiled by Dan Salvato - This is a special version of Dolphin, useful for reverse-engineering ASM code and functions from RAM. What's found can then be used to create new, advanced codes. In particular, this build allows you to break (pause) the game when specific points in RAM are read or written to. Usefulness level: Invaluable.
GCRebuilder - Used to export/import files from a game disc ISO (including importing files of a slightly different size). .Net Framework 3.5 or higher is required for it run; you can find that free from Microsoft
here. It can also extract all files at once from the disc image (image menu -> open -> right-click on "root" folder -> export).
GIMP - A free alternative to Photoshop. It can do most, if not all, that Photoshop can, although it works a little bit differently and usage may seem peculiar in some ways to newcomers. It can also do some things that Photoshop cannot, including easy alpha layer manipulation, easy plug-in creation, and even the ability to work from command line (Hello, Automation!). You can use pretty much any image editor (as long as it can work with palettes if you’re doing a paletted texture) to create/edit your textures though (but I’d still recommend something better than Paint).
HxD - There are many hex editors out there, offering the same basic functionality. So choosing one of these is typically personal preference, usually based on the extra features that make certain tasks quicker & easier. (
Comparisons of a few.) HxD is a good, free hex editor that many of us use to open up .dat, .usd, or other files for manual editing or searching. It's very useful, but you may not need this depending on what you're doing. Another one you may want to consider is
010 Editor. Although the latter is not free, it does have the additional feature of templates and bookmarks, which can highlight different areas of the file as you're viewing it, to make them easier to read. A template for some of Melee's files was created by revel8n, and can be found
here.
HexEdit - I haven't played with this yet, but it looks like it has some good features. It also supports templates (for automatic highlighting of certain sections). Tcll offers a template you can try
here.
SSBM: Version Converter/Patcher -
created by chain-ace - This allows you to convert an ISO of one version of Melee to another (e.g. v1.00 to 1.02). Quite useful if you cannot find the other version, but the program sometimes doesn't work on some systems. See
here for how to check your [unmodified] game version using an MD5 hash.
Melee Files and their Purpose - Open an ISO and what do you find? The files explained in this sheet.
List of regional version differences - There are several different release versions of SSBM, with some slight differences in menus, character weights, some attacks, game mechanics, glitches, and more. See
here for how to check your [unmodified] game version using an MD5 hash.
The Cutting Room Floor on SSBM - Lots of tidbits of unused or unfinished pieces of the game. An interesting browse, and maybe even be a little insightful in how the game does a few things.
The Complete Music (and Sound) Compendium -
created by DoctorKirby - A help, support, and sharing thread to talk about audio hacking, or publish any cool new SSM hacks. The posts directly following the OP also contain a ton of songs and other audio hacks you can download, ready to go right into your ISO!
Brawl Custom Music (.com) - "What?? Brawl in my Melee?!" Uhh, well, not quite. It's not actually a guide either, but this is a great resource for lots of music (in the form of HPS files) that you can add directly into your [Melee] game. Just choose "Melee" in the "Download for" dropdown.
Audio Melee Hacks - Music and Sound Requests -
created by Tichinde925 - If the guides below are too much, you can make your requests here. Or even better, create some new hacks that others have made requests for! There are also more songs and other audio hacks in the OP for download.
How to Create Custom HPS Music Files Using MeleeHPS (Includes BRSTM File Conversion Guide!) -
written by achilles - HPS files are what contain the music in SSBM. This guide shows you how to create looped HPS files for your game.
Custom Music Guide that Makes Sense -
created by lanabo - If you're a visual learner, this is the guide for you, since it's a video guide. Although, it may just be the guide for you anyway, because it's pretty good. It aims to be less technical and easier to follow than the other guides.
SSM Audio Hacking Guide -
written by GodFed - SSM files are the audio files that hold the short audio clips in the game. The character voices, the announcer voice, all the blips, clicks, and clangs, etc. are in the SSM files. This guide goes over how to change these.
DSP Visual Tutorial -
written by Tichinde925 - A picture's worth a thousand words. So, by definition, this visual guide is worth 15,000 words of tutorial, or something. Tichinde uses HxD, the free hex editor, to demonstrate how to manually hex SSM files. Check it out.
HPS Audio Hacking Guide -
written by GodFed - HPS files hold longer audio clips, such as background music. They are somewhat confusing. This guide explains HPS file structure and how they work, as well as how to change the music.
SIMPLE Step-By-Step Music Hacking Guide for the Masses! -
written by GSUB - For those of you who don't want all the technical details behind HPS hacks, check this guide out. Very nicely done.
SleepyK's Youtube Tutorials - Rather old guides; everything you need may already be covered in the guides above.
WinAmp with the
in_cube plugin - Used as a high quality player for .hps music files. Useful to test how your audio will sound in-game before adding it to your ISO.
Audacity - Used for audio editing. Allows for adjusting sample rates, both left and right channels, and much more.
SSBM Audio Tools - A download pack containing several audio tools, including:
- hps_insert v1.1 (and dependencies) - created by GodFed - Creates HPSs out of WAV files, almost perfectly. (Source code for hps_insert available
here.)
-
ssmex.exe -
created by hcs - Extracts all of the DSPs from an SSM file.
-
SuperSSMExt -
created by bilbaggins - Batch file to extract and organize DSPs from SSMs.
HPSAuto -
created by SheiktheOgre and Goatlink - HPSAuto is a patching program that takes WAVE music files, inserts them into an HPS file (Thanks GSUB), loops (if selected), and renders the file usable in modified melee ISOs.
MeleeHps and MeleeSsm -
created by GenesisFan64 - Used for music files and SFX packs, respectively. Rumor has it MeleeHps is far superior to hps_insert. Full results and write-ups are still being worked out in the lab.
vgmstream -
created by hcs - converts HPS and DSP to WAV.
Halley's Comet Software - Used for working with many video game audio formats.
A post on normalizing and amplifying music volume -
by Myougi - Useful so your music doesn't crackle, pop, or drown out the game's other sounds.
HPS info dumps:
Part 1 and
Part 2 -
written by Eternal Yoshi - A whole bunch of info on Melee's looping songs, including for each song: sample rate, channels, loop start & end, total stream samples, encoding, metadata, layout, samples to play, offset info, loop points in song, total audio blocks, and total time.
Melee Syntax and Guide. Let's make super characters! -
created by Itaru - This is an interesting thread that talks about editing special effects, hitbox/attack commands, and how they're placed in .DAT file data structures. If nothing else, at least check out the amazing, insane video found there.
Cosmetic Hitbox Element Guide -
written by Lanceinthepants - You can do some cool stuff with this guide, such as change moves to have electric, darkness, fire, or other effects.
Changing Color Effects in Melee! -
created by Lanceinthepants - Many texture types are standard images which include their own colors. But some (types _0 through _3) are actually given their color by other code in the game as they’re rendered. This guide explains how to change the hex that defines these colors, for various effects throughout the game. Look through the thread and you can find the offsets (locations in files) to tons of things.
Effect Changer -
created by CeLL - A simple program built to help you change the colors of different effects. And if you need it, here's a
32 bit version.
Laser Changer -
created by CeLL - Program specifically made to easily change the colors of Fox and Falco’s lasers.
Side-B phantom hacks -
written by nube - How to change the color of Falco and Fox's Side B.
Texture Hacking Effects -
written by DRGN - Some examples of what you can do with hacking effects. There's also a spreadsheet that gives offsets and descriptions to findings in EfCoData.dat (
Effects
Common
Data), a file that contains effects common to the cast. Neat effects pack (Onomatopoeia hack) included in the second post.
Melee Gecko Codes + Guide and Discussion -
created by Dan Salvato, now updated by achilles - Gecko is a codehandler that can inject custom code into the game. It can translate ASM (assembly) instructions to hex, and even has its own set of instructions that would normally take many more lines of ASM to do. This thread shows you how to apply Gecko codes, and supplies them as well. There are tons of cool codes you can implement into your game; from having everything unlocked with standard tournament settings applied by default, or stage-striking functionality a la PM, to for-fun codes like Mewtwo's 'Always full Shadow Ball' or infinite float for Peach. Great place to discuss/share new codes of course, too.
The DOL mod topic -
created by SypherPheonix - DOL mods are essentially Gecko codes written in ASM (assembly), turned into hex, and then put into the game's Start.dol file (a.k.a. main.dol), which is then included into the ISO. This basically makes the ISO a stand-alone hack.
Intro to Wii Game Modding (Twitch vid) -
created by the legen, I mean, Dan Salvato - This is THE definitive intro for all Melee coding and Debug Dolphin use. It's a long and detailed video tutorial on how the hacking process works and how you can go about figuring out new hacks. More than just a good watch, this is basically required homework, and you'll be just about immediately directed to this if you start posting questions on creating code. It's that good.
Let's learn assembly -
created by Hylian - A thread dedicated to learning assembly code (ASM), which can then be converted to hex (using the converter found in this section's
Programs list) to create Gecko codes or DOL mods. There are a lot of great resources to be found in this thread; just start reading through.
New Melee Syntax school (Writing Character Commands) -
written by Itaru - This explains the format for character commands (things like graphics, sound effects, hitboxes, and more, relating to characters' moves) and how to write them. Check out the promotional video in the OP for some examples of what can be done.
Animation/Subaction Swapping -
written by phish-it - Talks about swapping an animation from one move to another. Bowser dair turned into item-throw animation? Good stuff.
Physics, Input, etc Display in Develop Mode -
created by Magus - Codes to display various character and controller data in real time in Debug Mode. Very useful for analyzing mechanics and other RnD work.
How to Change the Default Character Names that Appear on the Character Select Portraits -
written by achilles - Super long, descriptive title is descriptive (and super long). Notably, it also contains
NametagHackGuide.xlsx, which is a useful spreadsheet to look up the hex codes that pertain to letters and numbers. This allows you to search for, and change, the strings of text found in the game. So this actually serves as a guide for changing more than what the title says. Perfect for finishing off your new game mechanics hack: text display to the player so they know what's going on.
Animation Hacking Documentation -
written by Itaru - This is really along a subject that should have it's own section, if only we knew more things to put in such a section.... Hopefully this thread can serve as a base to some people who want to help figure animations out.
SSBM RAM Addresses (v1.02) -
created by Dan Salvato, achilles, Massive, and more - As the name says, this spreadsheet describes the data in RAM as the game runs. A short description such as this can’t even begin to explain how to use this, how useful this is, or its potential for writing game code, so you’ll have some reading to do before you can really sink your teeth into this. But don’t worry, I’ll just keep it for you here until you come back.
Melee Mechanics by Kadano - This is a YouTube channel full of very well-done, highly in-depth explanations of Melee’s internal mechanics. Admittedly, not directly hacking-related, but I think it’s useful to learn more about how exactly the mechanics of the game work in order to figure out how to reverse-engineer and change them.
wParam's notes -
written by wParam - A very old, yet recent find. Some of the notes are fragmented and a bit hard to decipher. As SinsOfApathy said, it's sort of the 'Book of Shadows' in Melee spellcraft. Basically, it's more offsets and notes on the game's RAM and the creation of
The Crazy Mod, and is therefore similar in its usefulness as the RAM addresses spreadsheet above this, but with additional info.
SSBM Hitboxes (NTSC v1.00).xlsx -
created by ? - This is a huge spreadsheet containing information on every hitbox in the game. Some say it must have been made programmatically (by going through the dat files), others say some legend crafted it with his bare hands.... There's also Stratocaster's mirror of it
here, which is viewable without having to download it.
Character Attributes -
created by ? - A table on each character's various physical attributes and stats: jump height, landing lag, weight, friction, running speed, and more. This data is found in each of the characters' Pl**.dat file. The point in the file where the data begins varies by character, but you can find where the data starts for each character
here.
Melee Character Files -
created by ? - Here are the many .dat files for each character for every version of the game, nicely organized into subfolders for moveset, textures, effect, and DViWait files. Great for a program database. Have fun not having to extract all of this yourself.
DRGN's DOL Manager - Easily Add Codes to Your Game! -
created by DRGN - This is a great way for anyone to start off with (or continue!) hacking their Melee. It provides a very easy way to add mods to your game, manage what you have enabled or disabled, and even change the game's default settings!
Crazy Hand -
created by Ampers, darkside, and Tater - This is a character editing program to allow you to edit things such as character attributes, hitboxes, subactions, and more. This is homage to the predecessor program
Master Hand, which was an early RnD tool for the development of Project M, to read (but only read) Melee's character and move properties. Crazy Hand can already do a lot, and is still in development, with new features continually being added. You can also find a ton of information on how the game stores and reads hitboxes, subactions, action events, and more within the first couple of pages of the thread.
Tata's Interrupt changer -
created by tatatat0 - This is a program to manipulate the mechanics of non-character specific subactions, which was once only possible by wizards. You can do anything from making dash-attack teleport, or DACUS, to changing all kinds of move physics.
ASM <> WiiRd Converter (Gecko.NET download) - This is used to convert Gecko codes to ASM, or ASM to Gecko. Conveniently, this particular download actually comes with the required components (how nice!).
IEEE 754 Converter - Many things in Melee are stored as floating-point numbers, as hex, when you really just want to know the decimal version. This tool converts between floating-point, hex, and decimal.
Perfect 16:9 Widescreen Support (with a nice little demo vid) -
code created by Dan Salvato - Title says it all.
Fixed Toggleable Alternate Character Textures -
written by zankyou - This is a code that allows you to double the number of alternate costumes you can have in your game for each character!
On hitboxes -
written by Magus - How hitboxes are described in Melee's game files; how data such as damage, angle, and knockback is stored and how to find it.
On throw commands -
written by Magus - Basically the same as above, but with throws.
On special subactions -
written by Magus - A short note on special moves' subactions, and the currently known commands.
On shieldstun/hitstun -
written by Magus - Some short notes.
Discussions and Research:
Stage Hacking: NEW Research + Discussion -
created by Milun - Read through this thread and you'll find tons of info on stage model hacking. Learn how to edit camera movement ranges, blastzones, stage objects (models & collisions), platform positions & properties, ledges, and more! This thread and the one below are basically required reading for stage hacking.
Melee Stage Hacking Documentation (WARNING: Not User-Friendly) -
created by Dan Salvato - As the disclaimer in the OP says, this is meant for experienced hackers. But it doesn’t take much before you start realizing that this is some great documentation here. It basically explains how the data structures are organized in stage .DAT files, and how the game (or we) can follow the hierarchy to different levels and objects.
SSBM Protocole stage.dat -
created by Yax - A Google Docs spreadsheet that, like above, goes over what a typical stage .DAT file looks like and how its data structures are organized. It’s organized into easy-to-read sections, with some added notes to give you another perspective to accompany the one you gain from Dan’s docs.
Removing Parts of a Model -
written by Milun - This guide does just what it says on the box, showing you how to remove parts of both character and stage models. It also goes on to talk about the Material Structure in DAT files, and how they affect the shininess, darkness, and other properties of textures. Very useful!
Official Texture Hack Thread -
created by Veggies - Although this is mostly character skin (texture) related hacks, there are lot of custom stages included here as well if you’re looking for those.
Hacked Stage Catalog (spreadsheet repository) -
created by Pac-Man Vs. - A spreadsheet containing a list of hacked stages, including links for downloads, different tweaks of different stages, and video demos. It's a little outdated, but still includes variations of stage hacks that aren’t included in the thread above.
VertConvert -
created by Milun - Converts model objects to hex, which you can then paste into the proper places in your dat. Still requires some knowledge and legwork to use, but gives you some nice power.
Universal Model Converter -
created by Tcll - This is still a work-in-progress, which Tcll has been quite hard at work at. It aims to be able to convert a 3D model of any format to any other format. Eventually he even plans to work out animations too. I believe so far it does work for Trophies.
SSBM Ty Model Converter -
created by jahra!n - One of the first recorded attempts at creating a model viewer. It's incomplete, and I believe only [partially] works on trophies. Read through the thread a bit and you'll find a few more scripts that may help with the use of this program.
Tcll's 1st emutalk model viewer thread - Old and no longer used, but may contain information useful to those trying to get a better understanding of certain aspects of models.
Tcll's 2nd emutalk model viewer thread - Same as above.
Discussions & Resources:
Official Texture Hack Thread -
created by Veggies - The OP is a massive repository for all existing character and stage skins (as well as a few other miscellaneous texture hacks). This is the place to post new designs as well. If you find a broken link in there or don't find what you're looking for, leave a post!
The Old Melee Texture Hacks Thread -
created by D1 - The old version of above. Ideally all the textures found here should be in the above thread, but until that's confirmed I'll leave this here in case you'd like to look through it. (If you find some skins in here that aren't in the Official Texture Hack Thread, lets get them moved over. Or let me know if that's already happened and I'll remove this.)
SSBM: HQ (texture) -
created by Steelia - As a side project, Steelia decided to upgrade the Melee cast's textures. The results are quite an improvement! (You can see his video showcases
here.)For most characters this is only for their default color, but for a few he has redone their original alternate costumes too. He also has a couple stages upgraded and some original alternate costumes near the bottom of the OP (including a Wolf texture complete with model-hacked eyepatch!). Steelia also has these and more of his uploaded
here, though you should already be able to find all of those either in Steelia's SSBM HQ thread or the Official Texture Hack Thread.
The Complete CSP Compendium -
written by Doqtor Kirby - Character Select Portraits (CSPs) are the character portraits that show up along the bottom of the Character Select Screen (CSS) after you've chosen your character and color. These aren't linked to the character models or the model's textures in any way; they're just images, which means that if you want your CSPs to reflect the hacked character costumes you have, you'll need to replace these as well. There are currently waaay more character skins than CSPs, mostly because not everyone knows how to make them, but you can find a lot here.
Some Custom CSPs -
created by ChinesePanda - And by 'some' it means a lot. Hopefully will eventually will be merged with the thread above.
The Guide to Hack Any Texture -
written by DRGN - A complete guide that covers the full process of opening up your GCN/ISO game image, editing your chosen texture (of any texture/image type), and putting it back into the game. Should be easy to follow for even complete beginners; it basically contains everything you need to know as well as lots of good resources. Also includes advanced hacking techniques at the end of the guide. This is a good place to post questions or ask for help on the process.
Creating Melee Character Textures using the Melee Toolkit! It's Seriously So Easy.... -
written by achilles - A guide explaining how to use Dan Salvato's Melee Toolkit program (for editing/creating character costumes). You seriously won't believe how easy it is....
Changing Color Effects in Melee! -
created by Lanceinthepants - Many texture types are standard images which include their own colors. But some (types _0 through _3) are actually given their color by other code in the game as they’re rendered. This guide explains how to change the hex that defines these colors, for various effects throughout the game. Look through the thread and you can find the offsets (locations in files) to tons of things.
Changing Menu Text -
written by Jorgasms - A lot of the text in the game is actually done using images/textures, but some of it you can change by simple hex editing. Jorgasms shows you how it's done.
Explanations of the TPL file format:
DAT Texture Wizard (DTW) -
created by DRGN - This is used to take your new/edited textures and write them into your DAT or USD files. Accepts both TPLs and PNGs of any texture type, converting the PNGs automagically, and performing all of the hex editing for all of the textures in just a couple of mouse clicks. Usage of this program is covered in the Guide to Hack Any Texture, linked to above.
Melee Toolkit -
created by Dan Salvato - A tool for working on texture hacks for characters. It allows for easy replacement and extraction of textures, directly all the way to the ISO, and supports PNG as well as TPL images. It handles a lot of the processes of texture hacking for you and makes things very simple and easy. The downside is that it can’t be used for all textures.
PNG to-from TPL -
created by DRGN - This is for converting textures between PNG and TPL file formats, in either direction. This is a fairly new script that’s not only faster and easier for a single texture than the old methods, but can easily do large batches of images all at once. You might not need this though since DAT Texture Wizard can convert textures as well, but there are still a few good uses for having a TPL copy of your texture. Note that if you open it in a text editor, you’ll find a few options in the beginning of the file that you can change.
Texture Finder -
created by CeLL - Used to search for textures in DAT/USD files. You can even tell it to search for multiple images among multiple different dat files. Though seek times can add up, so you may want to limit your searches to a few at a time. Currently supports texture types _0 through _9.
KirbyTool -
created by libertyernie - Another tool for automatically writing textures into DAT/USD files. Support is limited to only a few characters however. Full instructions are available in the download.
Fixed Toggleable Alternate Character Textures -
written by zankyou - This is a code that allows you to double the number of alternate costumes you can have in your game for each character!
Character Texture Files -
written by Steelia - Handy post that tells you the file names for each character's alternate costumes.
Texture previews (Steelia's YouTube) - If you're new to the concept of texture hacking, you can check out what some of the textures and stage hacks really look like live, in-game. Most of the videos here are really quite old though, so I wouldn't look to the guides you might find there to learn how to do stuff, since there are better methods nowadays (look around in this post for up-to-date guides). You can find the textures for download in the threads listed under
Discussions and Resources above.
Old texture hacking methods:
CMPR Texture Hacking (for _14 type textures),
written by GodFed, and a guide on
CI4/CI8 Texture Hacking (types _8 and _9, which are textures with palettes),
written by Steelia. Though these are provided here kinda just-in-case and shouldn't be needed anymore. For converting textures between TPL and PNG, it is much easier to use the 'PNG to-from TPL' script listed with the programs above.
Primary Discussions and Guides:
MTH Video Hacking Guide -
written by GodFed - MTH files are generic video files. The opening video falls into this category. This guide goes over the theory behind hacking them.
Opening Movie Hacking For Dummies -
written by Cobalt - This explains how to hack the opening video (the video that plays automatically when you start the game). It's well organized and clear and awesome, so go check it out!
thpplay.exe -
by Thakis - Player for THP and MTH files.
mth_make.exe -
created by GodFed - Makes MTH files from JPG sequences.
Example Opening Movie -
created by SleepyK - Just an example. No download link (though if someone has this I could add it here).
1-frame MTH video file - Use this to replace all those long video files in your ISO, which can free up a lot of space and allow you to fit in more custom content!
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That's all for now. ^_^ Please let me know if you think a resource on here doesn't need to be here because it's redundant or outdated, or if you think there's something useful that you don't see here.