@database GOldNEST.Guide @master GOldNEST.Guide @$VER: GOldNEST 0.35 (29-Jul-98) @author "Lennart Johannesson" @(c) "Lennart Johannesson 1998" @node "main" "GOldNEST 0.35 - (c) 1998 Lennart Johannesson" @toc "main" GOldNEST - Good Old Nintendo Entertainment System Tool ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ (c) 1998 Lennart Johannesson 95lenjo@ostrabo.uddevalla.se @{" Disclaimer " link "disclaimer" 0} Don't blame me! @{" Distribution " link "distribution" 0} GOldNEST is Freeware! @{" System Requirements " link "require" 0} What do I need to run GOldNEST? @{" Installation " link "installation" 0} How do I install...? @{" Introduction " link "intro" 0} What is GOldNEST? @{" Instructions " link "instructions" 0} How does it work? @{" The Author " link "me" 0} Who wrote GOldNEST? @{" Acknowledgments " link "Acknowledgments" 0} Thanks to... @{" Bugs " link "bugs" 0} Get those bugs out of here!! @{" FAQ " link "faq" 0} Why does... @{" Future " link "future" 0} What to expect in the future! @{" History " link "history" 0} When? What? Where? @{i} -"Which time do you think we should start with tomorrow?" @{ui} /Jansson (A "Friend" of mine) @endnode @node "Disclaimer" "Disclaimer" @toc "main" @{b}Disclaimer@{ub} @{b}==========@{ub} This program is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of this program is with you. In no event can I be liable to you for damages of any kind arising out of the use of this program, or the inability to use it. @endnode @node Distribution "-GOldNEST is Freeware-" NOTE: Please report any @{"bugs" link "bugs" 0} you find while using this software. GOldNEST may be distributed freely, as long as the original archive is kept intact. GOldNEST is Freeware. Just send @{"me" link "me" 0} an email telling me that you're using it, and list any suggestions, (Not mentioned in the @{"Future" link "future" 0} section), that you have for improving it. :) Permission is given to include this program in a public archive (such as a BBS, FTP site, PD library or CD-ROM) providing that all parts of the original distribution are kept intact. @endnode @node "instructions" "-Some Brief Instructions For GOldNEST-" @toc "main" GOldNEST is a tool to edit .NES rom files. With GOldNEST you're able to alter the graphics in a nes rom-image, an later save it to the same, or a new image. From version 0.19 you may also change the integrated name (if present). When changing names, I do not know if you should delete the unreadable characters at the end of the name, I believe they are PC-end-of-line-cr chars, please leave them there! You can save your palettes, they'll be saved in my own format: GOldNEST Palette (.GNP) The .GNP extension is not required, but suitable in my opinion! There's not much to say...You'll figure out the most yourself I believe! A short description of the shortkeys follows... ----------------------------------------------- Keys that works with/without Right-Amiga key pressed: "+" skip to next block of graphics "-" skip to previous block of graphics "ESC" EXIT GOldNEST! With Right-Amiga key pressed: "O" open a new rom "W" save over rom "S" save rom as... "L" Load a new palette "Z" Save the current palette to a file! "?" bring up the about information! "P" To bring up the palette selector! "E" expand the block window to display more graphics at once =) "M" enables the marker in the rom graphics window. "G" open/close rom graphics window! If you want to speed up the development, just write me a nice letter telling you like this editor. If you have any suggestions for improvment, please tell me them. GOldNEST now also takes a .NES rom image as a command line. More instructions will be available in the future. @endnode @node "intro" "-A Brief Introduction To GOldNEST- @toc "main" @{i} The Story --------- It all started when I wanted to translate NES roms into Swedish. Therefore I joined "The Translators" and started to translate SMB-1 into swedish, and I was successfull! After some hard work I finally changed some of the letters to swedish ones, and also hacked the text in the romfile. The problem is that most of the NES roms do not use standard ASCII-codes and that's a BIG problem if you want to translate roms. Therefore I thought, why not create a NES tool for my favourite computer, Amiga. As you can see I did, although there's much much more to be added and finished on this editor, it is going to be the ultimate editor for any system (Maybe) ! My favourite emulator is CoolNESs by Fredrik Olsson (flubba@hem2.passagen.se), so I've chosen a similar name for this editor: "GOldNEST" GOldNEST is short for Good Old Nintendo Entertainment System Tool, so now you know... @{ui} @endnode @node "installation" "-Installation-" @toc "main" From version 0.12 of GOldNEST there's an installer-script, just click on the "GOldNEST.Install icon and you'll be guided thru the installation, very simple! Tomas Amsrud helped me updating and fixing this script, thanks again Tomas! @endnode @node "me" "-The Author Of GOldNEST-" @toc "main" GOldNEST is being written by me, Lennart Johannesson. I was a computer science student at the "Ostrabo Gymnasium" in Uddevalla, Sweden, summer 1998 I finally took my exam! Good NEWS! I've been accepted to read one more year at the "Ostrabo Gymnasium", I'll even get my own computer in the school. (A PC, but it's better than nothing!) I guess I guess I'll have to emulate my dear Amiga while I'm in school! =) Other products by me: AmiGenie - Aminet:misc/emu/AmiGenie.lha DNA2HD - Aminet:game/misc/DNA2HD.lha NESGuru - Aminet:misc/emu/NESGuru.lha NeverMind - Aminet:game/think/NeverMind.lha OboyWorms - Aminet:game/data/OboyWorms.lha And a couple of mods, search for lento on Aminet and you'll find some... My config is: A1200: * 68030 at 33Mhz OverClocked->40Mhz (MBX 1230) * 68882 at 50Mhz * 16 Megs. of Fast Ram * 1.2 Gb HD If you would like to get in contact: E-Mail: lentoboy@hem.passagen.se E-Mail: 95lenjo@ostrabo.uddevalla.se UIN: 9604182 HomePage: http://hem.passagen.se/lentoboy/index.html Or you could write to my snail mail adress. I may not answer all snail-mail letters, but if I can, I will: Lennart Johannesson Fyrbaksg. 18A 456 34 Kungshamn SWEDEN @endnode @node "Acknowledgments" "-Acknowledgments!-" @toc "main" Special thanks to: (No special order) Andrew Crowne, Patrick Kellum, Nikolaos Theologou, Paolo D'Urso, for suggestions, bug reports and moral support! Fredrik "FluBBa" Olsson, for CoolNESs Tomas "Giant Dwarf" Amsrud for MWB-Icons, suggestions & support! Morgan Johansson & Fredrik Schultz, for A/NES and ideas. Juan Antonio Gómez Gálvez for AmiMSX, AmiGB, AmiMasterGear and (AmiNES) I would also like to thanks the following people: (No special order) Martin "Marto" Persson, for his nice visits at the weekends. Hans Guijt, for fMSX! Ville Helin, for Wzonka-Lad! Jeremy Friesner, For Amarquee And Netris Mattias "Mr.Cool" Melin, for his nice Parties. Mikael "The Bomb" Jansson, for anoying me with phonecalls every day. Patrik "The Squirrel" Alexandersson, for being such a nice friend! Bengt & Per Johannesson, for letting me play on their N64:s :) @endnode @node "require" "-System Requirements-" @toc "main" GOldNEST is multitasking, you can switch screens with left-amiga + M. But I don't guarantee that GOldNEST is safe for your system. To run GOldNEST, you will (probably) need the following: * Kickstart 3.0 or later * diskfont.library (V39 or later) (Not yet, but will be required in future versions) * asl.library (V39 or later) * AGA or GFX-board (Probably) * A NES-Rom image to edit would be nice too. =) @endnode @node "future" "-The Future-" @toc "main" What I intend to do in "The Future": * HexEditor (With font-offset-mapping, will be an external program!) * Newicons (I appreciate if anyone could draw me some :) * Own Font For GUI, please can someone make me one? * A window to draw blocks in (For testing of how graphics look) * Loading/Saving Iff Pics * + Lots of other things (Suggestions are welcome) Dont forget, if you want to be placed on GOldNEST mailing list, just send @{"me" link "me" 0} an e-mail. @endnode @node "faq" "-Frequently Asked Questions-" @toc "main" Q: Why isn't the palette correct? A: The NES graphics are built up in blocks of 8*8 pixels and they are always in 2 planes, the palette is never included in these blocks, it could be anywhere in the ROM. It's impossible to access the palette without some kind of emulation, therefore you will always have to set the palette by hand sorry :( Q: Why are there bugs in GOldNEST? A: Because, a guy called Lennart put them there! No really, every program has bugs. That's just the way it is. On the other hand I will remove bugs I find in GOldNEST in the future! =) Q: Why is GOldNEST so d*mn slow? A: GOldNEST is entirely written in C, and uses many system routines, which causes SlowNESs =) Some routines have been speeded up during the development though! Q: My 16-colour-mcp-hires-pointer has the wrong colours! A: Some modes just wont work properly with a hires 16 colour pointer, higher resolutions usually works, try different resolutions and see which one that fits you the best! @endnode @node "bugs" "-Bugs-" @toc "main" I believe there is a bug in the change name function but I'm not quite sure yet. Also another thing when changing names, do NOT delete the unreadable characters at the end of the name, they should be there! (I think!) Always remember to save all important work before running GOldNEST and make sure you backup your roms first! Also please, if you have a graphics-board, tell me if this program works on such a screen. I know there are more bugs in this program, but I need you to find them for me. PLEASE! If you find any bugs please report them to @{"me" link "me" 0}. @endnode @node "history" "-History-" @toc "main" The (so far) history of GOldNEST: 0.35: (29-Jul-98) Loading/Saving Palettes! Send me your favourite palettes and I'll Include them! Fixed some enforcer hits, there's still some of them left though... 0.30: (22-Jul-98) Better palette support with sliders and palette gadgets! (RAmiga+P) Bugfixes to the block-palette selector and code. Bugfixes to the menuhandler, works better than expected! =) 0.20: (31-May-98) Removed GOldNEST start script, GOldNEST can be run directly from it's icon now =) Added a menu option to enable marker for blocks =) Fixed the romnamelength bug? (Not sure if I really did though, please report!) 0.19: (08-May-98) Now you can change the integrated name in the rom file from GOldNEST! (Buggy) Removed NES-manager from the GOldNEST archive. Reorganized the code a little. 0.18: (06-May-98) More prefs are now saved, window positions and window size! Scrollbar for graphics, now you can't draw outside memory anymore =) Some bugfixes, hopefully no more crashed when changing window-size =) 0.17: (01-May-98) Added high speed bitmap mode for ECS/AGA screens! Use + and - without pressing right amiga keys. Fixed some bugs (1 enforcer hit that caused another enforcer hit removed!) 0.16: (22-Apr-98) Heavily improved the filename-handling, now it should work better! (I hope) Enabled "Save Rom as" in the menu, so you don't have to save over you old ROMs =) 0.15: (20-Apr-98) Major improvements! You are now capable of editing graphics, and also writing them to the ROM. So get started making your own graphics NOW, and make sure you've backed up your ROM-images first! Also some fixes to the GUI and other great features! 0.14: (18-Apr-98) Great improvment to the message handler (for windows etc.)! GOldNEST now takes command line. (Suggested by Tomas Amsrud) Config is now saved to ENVARC: and ENV: 0.13: (07-Apr-98) Now you can browse through the graphics in the rom =) First palette support (I promise you all a better one in the future!) Added SmalMWB, Smal and Normal Icons by Tomas Amsrud (gdwarf@applausenett.no)! Install script updated (also by Tomas Amsrud) Thanks for your support Tomas =) 0.12: (28-Mar-98) Added Installer script. Now graphic window display the filename of the loaded ROM. (Suggested by Tomas Amsrud!) Added MWB icons made by Tomas Amsrud! 0.11: (26-Mar-98) Now the correct graphics offset is calculated. (No more corrupted graphics) GOldNEST also shows more colors now, (The last one showed only 3 colors due to a bug.) Also some minor changes to the source. 0.10: (25-Mar-98) First Public Release. @endnode