Starmen.Net

click birthdaycat for EB wiki goodness


I think it would be a good idea to have a wiki for technical EB hacking info. The way the info is now, it's spread all over the place. This page is nice, but it doesn't have everything; this thread also has neat info, but it's still not everything... there's other stuff, too, like the control codes and how music works. It would be much easier to both find and update all this data with a wiki.

It would also help some people understand certain features of PK Hack and such faster. For example, it took me a while to understand that "Enemy AI Extender function" merely replaces the move list with another enemy's move list. (It didn't help that the parameter always has the same enemy name, since it naturally represents the same enemy. I figured it out when I noticed the duplicate bosses in the list, and then I saw that the extender always used the duplicate's ID and not its own as a parameter.)

- Kef

Actually, one exists, although it does not seem particularly well publicized around PK Hack. It is not specific to EarthBound, but you could stay within the EarthBound pages and the pages linked from it if that is all you are interested in.

The website is http://www.datacrystal.org/

So guys, um, we need to agree on a place to put the wiki, or which wiki to take over if we're going to use an existing one. What about earthbound.wikia.com? I wonder if they'd like to host technical ROM info. They have ads on the default skin, though, and we can probably get a wiki without ads.

How come starmen.net doesn't have an EarthBound wiki of its own, anyways? You could use it for more than just PK Hack stuff.

EDIT: I'm going ahead and creating a wiki exclusively for PK Hack-related stuff (including Mother and Mother 3). After all, we could always move it if we need to. I'm gonna wait until it's a bit more ready before posting the URL, but I'm workin' on it.

- Kef

It's OK, the other guys in #pkhax already basically told me not to. I've already moved my info to the Data Crystal wiki and deleted my own.

But the Data Crystal wiki isn't going to be useful if it isn't actually used. Where was the info on the control codes? The flag crusade? The standard arguments list? The formulae for battles and for leveling up? Why aren't we putting everything we know on it? EarthBound's page there was created in 2005; that stuff should have been on there ages ago by now. I've put some of it up now, of course, and I'll continue to put up whatever I find, but I really don't want to be the only guy using this.

In particular, we need to sticky this thread (or make another one and sticky that) to publicize the wiki, and we should also link to it from here. Once I get the control codes page polished up a bit I'm going to link to it from the control codes thread, for example, because BlueAntoid's version is becoming obsolete (if it hasn't been already).

Earlier today I was in #pkhax asking about the music format. Not one, but two people basically told me, "Well, I used to know stuff about that, but now I don't anymore". This is exactly the sort of thing that the wiki is supposed to prevent! So let's get this party started, guys...

- Kef

I already am. My point is that this should be a good resource by and for everyone, rather than just by and for myself. A wiki is useless if it isn't actually used, and I was just pointing to the wiki in its current state (well, its state as of yesterday) as a prime example.

Moreover, I think we should all fully commit to it. No more personal notes, no more text docs scattered over the web. Further EB ROM hacking info should begin and end there.

- Kef

Well, I've made three minor discoveries about the control codes in the past couple of days (one of which turned out to already be in the thread, but not in the text files). And I think there's still work being done with figuring out how the battle backgrounds work. And surely if nobody else is working on anything else right now, they will in the future.

So... how come we don't have a sticky topic about the wiki yet?

I haven't looked at the supposedly Wiki yet (Wikipedia is blocked from my job) but I wanted to propose a possible Code Library.

By that I mean, a library that houses chunks of code that do certain things that people could copy and paste into their hacks with a little bit of tweaking.

Of course if it already has this then super!

On a side note, I think there should be an EB exclusive section to the Wiki. Also, has anyone used a program like Camtasia to make a Tutorial Video on how to edit things? I think that might be beneficial. It captures your screen as you work, and turns it into a video. Just a thought, since I'm very intrigued with PK Hack right now.

I'm not sure yet how code works in PK Hack. In another program I've used everything is manipulated through code, I'm not sure yet how much code related things there are with PK Hack. (If someone could provide a link to a tutorial about it that would be awesome)

However, if some things were manipulated by code, it would be a good idea to get a library of these things together. For instance, if the Submarine/Bicycle had scripts to them that you could manipulate, you could create your own car script so that Ness and the others could drive a car (or go-cart), and then you could allow others to use the script by posting it on the library and describing what would be needed to make it work.

Also, perhaps there could be a Library of sprites for people to use/edit to create more sprites, as well as tile sets for the maps.

As for the EB exclusive page,that is a good start... I can't remember what I was trying to bring up before.

I thhink we SHOULD have a wiki, because it would attract more fans to PK Hack and bring in more downloads. :d

Sounds like a sticky wiki situation!

I'm not so sure this thread should be stickied as it is since most of it is a ramble that goes like: "we should have a wiki" "we do" "oh yea?" "yea!" "well stiky this so all the other people that didnt know can read about me asking about it, but first lets nearly fill a page so that the real information is 15 posts from the top" "ok" "good" "yea" "sure"

and the top post is a kids lolcats type thing that may or may not have a link to the wiki (wasnt willing to click on some kids cat to find out seemed like a rickroll waiting to happen). Seriously this is not sticky-worthy maybe its contents that we have a wiki are, but not this particular question/answer/ramble topic-ed thread

and for the record I knew about and used the wiki so it cant be that hard to find from the either this forum or the old pkhack site.

Are you using some sort of browser such as WebTV that doesn't show you where a link leads when you hover your cursor over it? Because that's the only reason I can think of why you'd assume the picture would go to YouTube and not datacrystal.

IE is only showing the web address of the pictures not the wiki address. besides its more of the idea of it like its just silly to immature if your trying to get people to the wiki easier. and I'm not saying dont advertise the wiki I just think delete this thread and start a new one witha nice header giving the wiki and what its all about and how it can help people. that seems the most productive. or just change the lead post to something like that and it would be fine i think.

What's wrong with using the wiki we already have?

Hey, just a heads-up, but it appears that the domain datacrystal.org is no longer resolving. Whoever registered datacrystal.org, do you know what’s going on here?

Datacrystal is back up (as of a day or two ago). I apologize for the downtime.

Well, you may go to the PK Hack site.

http://pkhack.fobby.net/start.php

Dunno if this would help you, but good luck anyway.