=========================== IPS Patch Application Guide By Radiation =========================== Okay, here's a step-by-step guide to applying an IPS Patch: Step One - Find that patch! IMPORTANT! Certain patches require ROM Expansion to work! If the ROM is not expanded, the ROM will become garbagey! Beware! Read more about ROM Expansion later. So you think you want to apply an IPS Patch and take your first step toward entering a world of ROM Hacking, eh, Jimmy? Well, it won't be easy. First of all, you'll want to make sure you have an UNEDITED COPY OF THE ROM you're applying an IPS Patch to, and ANOTHER ONE FOR GOOD LUCK. Second, you'll need to find the following items of near legendary status - A. An unedited ROM... easy, huh? B. An IPS Patch to apply to that ROM... not too tough unless you're playing Super Metroid... C. An IPS Patch Applier!... Well, crap, Jimmy! You don't have an IPS Patch Applier, do you, Jimmy?* Well, too bad. Looks like you can't ever apply an IPS patch... EVER! Or, you could download an IPS Patch Applier. The choice is yours, but remember that the road will be long and treacherous, and the save points are few. If you don't have one, which you probably don't, you can try one of the following: 1. Lunar IPS (easy, quick, no-hassle IPS application) 2. Mr. Accident's PatchMan (confusing, but shiny and made with cool features)**** 3. JHack's IPS Patch Applier (clunky, but easy to use)** 4. ZSNES Autopatch! (super-easy patching that requires no thinking; cannot make patches) If you're new and want it easy and don't think you'll be making any patches soon, I suggest ZSNES. For budding hackers, try Lunar IPS. If you're pretty swell and no stranger to IPS Patches, try PatchMan. There is no valid reason to use JHack's IPS Patch Applier unless you have JHack and want to use it because it means you don't have to download anything. Lunar IPS - http://fusoya.panicus.org/lips/ PatchMan - http://staff.starmen.net/pkhack/pk_junk/util/patchman11.exe JHack - http://anyoneeb.ath.cx:83/pkhack/ ZSNES - http://www.zsnes.com/ Step Two - Expansion... something. (sometimes optional) Hey, stupid! You got that stuff I asked you about? Great. Well, there's something you have to do before applying the patch to the ROM. First, you're going to want to make 500 MORE COPIES OF YOUR UNEDITED ROM***** or use a copy of the unedited ROM you already have. Okay, got it? Now, I've got to explain this expansion thing. When someone hacks a game, they usually just edit existing stuff, right? Well, sometimes their hack is SO AWESOME they need more space than the original game actually had. At this point, they need to EXPAND the ROM's size to stuff more crap in. That's what expansion is. How do you tell if you have to expand your ROM? There are several signs: A. You already applied the patch and the ROM is garbagey/doesn't work. B. While reading about a hack, it tells you it requires expansion. C. An EB ROM is normally 3MB, so look for anything above that. You've probably figured it out by now, and even if you haven't you can keep in mind that expanding a ROM never hurt anybody, while NOT expanding a ROM has probably killed several goats. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you HOW to expand. Well, first off you can download a crappy ROM expander program off the old PKHACK Website and use that, or you could download JHack and use its expander. That's definitely a good idea. If you're too lazy to download JHack and/or you aren't playing an EarthBound hack but you still have ROM Expansion Woes,****** check out Lunar Expand by our good ROM Hacking friend FuSoYa. It'll expand any ROM up to a completely massive amount of size. Lunar Expand - http://fusoya.panicus.org/le/index.html Step Three - Applyin' it! And... you did it. You defeated Demon Apsu and saved the Negaverse. You also managed to pick up a smooth IPS patch applier along the way. Now all you have to do is apply it! INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPECTIVE PATCH APPLIERS: Lunar IPS - Run Lunar IPS. Hit 'Apply Patch' and pick your poison. Then pick your ROM. PatchMan - To use PatchMan, you first add ROMs to its database with the 'Add Patch' button. For EarthBound hacks, for example, you might want to add three ROMs; an unexpanded one (24 megabits) and two expanded ones (32 and 48 megabits), since different sizes may be required by different patches. Afterwards, you can double-click on a patch (.IPS) file in Windows Explorer, and PatchMan will pop up a window asking you for some information about the patch, including title, author, and so on. You'll also have to tell it what ROM to apply the patch to. Note that you have to use the internal ROM name, which is what you will see in PatchMan's ROM list. For EarthBound, this name is "EARTH BOUND". Once you've filled out this information, PatchMan's main window should come up, and the patch should now be in the list. You can double-click it in this list to play it. Additionally, from now on you can simply double-click the patch file in Windows and the game will start automatically. Note from Mr. A: Upon reflection, the PatchMan system of patch application is much more convoluted than it needs to be. Sooner or later I'm going to change it entirely - I'm going for a mindless "double-click patch, play game" interface from the very start, without all the annoying setup stuff. :P JHack - It's like Lunar IPS except slow. Well, that's it. What! AutoPatch! Oh yeah, forgot him. This is IMPORTANT. This is also EASY. Rename the name of your COPY OF YOUR UNEDITED ROM OR WHATEVER ROM YOU'RE USING WHICH IS PROBABLY THAT COPY I WAS JUST TALKING ABOUT AND RENAME IT TO THE SAME NAME AS THE IPS PATCH ALL CAPITALS. So if you had a ROM named 'EarthBound (U).smc' and an IPS named 'jonbound.ips', you'd rename the ROM to 'jonbound.smc' and load the ROM. The game will automatically patch itself. MAKE SURE THE PATCH AND ROM ARE IN THE SAME FOLDER. Step Last - Troublefire FAQ! (Not necessary if it worked out okay.) Troublefire! Troubleshooting is copyrighted, so I have to use "Troublefire."*** Here are some common problems and ways to fix them. Q: How come when I autopatch it doesn't work? A: Hey dummy! A .zip is not a ROM. It is a ZIP. Extract the ROM out of its shell and enjoy the succulent morsel hidden within. Q: I'm not stupid! I extracted it already! See, the problem is- A: Oho! SNES9X is not the same as ZSNES! Fool! Q: No! I named it the same name, and the files are in the same folder! What's going on? A: Oh, that's a weird little thing with some version of ZSNES - Autopatch is turned off. Try going to ZSNES -> Options and check off "Enable Autopatch." Q: Alrighty. Okay, WHAT THE CRAP. I APPLIED THE PATCH AND THE ROM IS ALL GARBAGEY! A: There are two things that can be happening - the ROM needs to be expanded or you're applying the patch to the wrong game. Q: Expansion! What? A: Certain games require extra memory to get cool effects and stuff. JHack can expand EarthBound ROMS up to 6MB, which is required to play the elaborate Hat Quest. Q: Oh. I don't have JHack! Help me! A: Help is on the way! FuSoYa's Lunar Expand (http://fusoya.panicus.org/le/index.html) has the ability to expand almost all SNES ROMS flawlessly. Just back-up your ROM first! Q: PATCHMAN IS A CRAZYMAN A: YEAH I KNOW Q: i cant make an ips patch so im just posting teh smc A: No, fool! You can't post .SMC files where .IPS would be normally accepted! It's sorta illegal and you'll generally get banned! Q: (insert program here) crashed on me. A: Your computer probably sucks or you didn't apply a real IPS patch or something. Restart your computer, reread the instructions, and download the patch. Q: html codes write a program... help me plase A: Stay classy, San Diego. YOU WIN!!!! * Don't answer that. ** It's not really 'clunky,' but Java is slow and I've always wanted to call JHack that. *** Mrs. Doubtfire, don't sue me. **** Contrary to popular belief, PatchMan may not actually be 'better,' but it certainly is 'butter.' ***** Give or take about 499. ****** Wear anti-woe cologne.