Playing Hacks - pk-hack/CoilSnake GitHub Wiki

Thank you on behalf of the creator of whatever hack you're trying to play for checking it out! There are three things you need to play:

  1. The patch file (BPS, IPS, or EBP format);
  2. A SNES emulator like Mesen or Snes9x, or a real Super NES and a flashcart;
  3. An EarthBound ROM (sorry, you're on your own here!)

So what we'll do is apply the patch to the ROM, and then you can play it in the emulator. That's what we'll go over here.

How to apply a patch

Verifying that you have a clean EarthBound ROM

Patches rely on the base ROM to be exactly as expected. On occasion, it's possible that a ROM you've found might be slightly different in its formatting. So I made a quick tool that is able to fix up those small discrepancies:

https://supremekirb.neocities.org/tools/rom_inspector

Open your ROM here. Based on the message it gives you, here is what to do:

"This is a standard EarthBound ROM!"

  • This ROM is clean, so you can use it to patch with! Please continue.

"Your ROM isn't standard, but it can be fixed."

  • Press the "Fix it!" button underneath. The resulting ROM is the one that you should patch with, so give it a distinctive name.

"This ROM isn't recognised, so it can't be fixed."

  • Somehow you got your hands on a ROM that the tool doesn't know about. Try getting a new ROM. If it really is an unmodified copy of EarthBound, get in contact with SupremeKirb as the website says. You can't use this to patch with.

Applying the patch

[!IMPORTANT] The following instructions are for "BPS" format patches. If the patch you downloaded is of "EBP" or "IPS" format, please go to this page: Playing Hacks (Legacy)

There are a few tools that do this, but here are the two we recommend. The first one is entirely within your browser, and the second one can be used offline. Naturally, if one doesn't work, use the other.

With Rom Patcher JS (Online)

Head over to https://www.marcrobledo.com/RomPatcher.js/ and follow these steps:

  1. Select the EarthBound ROM

(Do NOT check "Add SNES copier header")

  1. Select the patch file

If the ROM input field turns red, either your base ROM is incorrect, or the patch was made in the wrong manner. The "CRC32" field for both should be dc9bb451. If one is different, that's the one with the issue.

  1. Press "Apply patch" and save the new file somewhere

With FLIPS (offline)

Head over to https://github.com/Alcaro/Flips/releases/latest and download the correct version for your OS. Unzip it, start the program, and follow these steps:

  1. Press "Apply Patch"
  1. Select the patch file
  1. Select the EarthBound ROM
  1. Save the patched ROM somewhere

If you get an error message along the lines of "This patch is not intended for this ROM", please make sure that the EarthBound ROM you selected is clean. See above for details on how to do that.

Playing the hack

Now that you've applied the patch, open up your SNES emulator (or put it on your flashcart) and then open the patched ROM! If something's gone wrong, it should be pretty obvious (either it doesn't work at all, something explodes horribly, or nothing's changed). Make sure you followed the steps above. Otherwise, get in contact with the hack's creator to solve the issue.