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View Full Version : How To Make A Rom?

Calimaw
08-12-2006, 04:42 PM
Hello, Im noob to this, but I was curious if there's a way to CREATE a totally new rom?

I just dont know where to begin with this, would appriciate a point in the right direction. (Also how the funky chicken do you hack code, and not just the graphics. I want to turn the missiles on Rock N' Roll racing to homing missiles, using something similar to the Hover Craft homing explosive spheres)
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MonsieurSirhan
08-12-2006, 06:42 PM
What system?

Whichever it is though, you need a good read on the processor's instructions set. Thne just make a basic engine, a sound program, and a graphic compression routine (ok, maybe not).
It is a long and pinful road to oblivion, which is why most public domain roms are pretty rudimentary.

I think there are C compilers for the GBA, which makes it much easier if true. While you still need a lot of knowledge on the engine, you are working on a slightly higher level language.
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Calimaw
08-12-2006, 10:00 PM
Id be working on a Windows machine (XP, Eep), But If I can't find something higher than assembely (like C) there's no way I'll even attempt anything, Im thinking it might just be too damned difficult to make a ROM considering the amount of ambition and interest I have in doing such a thing, it's more of a "It would be fun to make my own ROM" not "I MUST make my own ROM!"

So, I should probably just walk away?
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MonsieurSirhan
08-12-2006, 10:57 PM
For GBA, I just found this: http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=418

Further info at the main docs site: http://www.gbadev.org/docs.php

Foir elder systems, languages like c are already an overhead (though i heard that later snes were coded in c, so I am not certain of the veracity on this, specially when you hear of people programing toasters and micropossesors in raw c, perhaps through specialized compilers).

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CEpeep
08-12-2006, 11:16 PM
If you just want to get into simple console coding, pick up a PSP and learn Lua. The language is more than powerful enough to handle just about anything you could do for the NES - GBA, with way less work. I's actually a really cool feeling to code something simple on the computer and them stick it on the PSP and see it working right in your hands.
<P ID="signature"><font size="-2">Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff ~ Frank Zappa</font></P>
MonsieurSirhan
08-12-2006, 11:23 PM
I don't have a PSP, so I wouldn't know, what disc types can the psp read, aside from UMD?

If you can make a game in lua for the psp, then that is really awesome, and makes me consider getting one just for that :P

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CEpeep
08-12-2006, 11:31 PM
> I don't have a PSP, so I wouldn't know, what disc types can
> the psp read, aside from UMD?
> If you can make a game in lua for the psp, then that is
> really awesome, and makes me consider getting one just for
> that :P

You don't need a disc. You just put it on the memory stick and run it (need Firmware 2.6 or below).
<P ID="signature"><font size="-2">Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff ~ Frank Zappa</font></P>
Calimaw
08-13-2006, 03:27 AM
Isnt the GBA pretty much a SNES? Or was it NES... :o
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MonsieurSirhan
08-13-2006, 04:01 AM
> Isnt the GBA pretty much a SNES? Or was it NES... :o


Neither. The GBA has a very different processor architecture from what i recall.

It is more powerful than the snes, with the exception from the apu, which is pretty basic in comparison from the spc700 (SP?).

This comes out of my ass, in the meaning that I havent bothered to check in a while.
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hcs
08-13-2006, 11:35 PM
> Id be working on a Windows machine (XP, Eep), But If I can't
> find something higher than assembely (like C) there's no way
> I'll even attempt anything.

N64 games were written in C. If you want to poke around I am putting together some free libraries here:
http://n64dev.cvs.sourceforge.net/n64dev/n64dev/lib/alt-libn64/

A lot of N64 demo scene stuff was done with the official libraries, shame.
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The 9th Sage
08-25-2006, 06:46 AM
> If you can make a game in lua for the psp, then that is
> really awesome, and makes me consider getting one just for
> that :P

I want to note there is also a DS version of Lua.

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