Useful Programs

Contributors: Bivurnum

• Visual Studio Code: The most important tool we will utilize when hacking a decomp is a text editor. This is what we will be using to directly edit the code inside the files. Visual Studio Code is the one I recommend the most, by far. It can work with the whole project at once (not just one file at a time). It works well with git for tracking changes and resolving merge conflicts, and is compatible with GitHub Desktop. It has extentions for the C language (and Poryscript!) that keep track of the syntax and alert you to errors in real time. Also, it's free! But you can use whatever program you want for this as long as it can edit text files.

• Porymap: This program is required if you want to change the maps in the game. It also makes it extremely easy to alter the overworld objects (NPCs), wild Pokémon encounter rates, and metatiles. I will be adding a Porymap beginner's tutorial to this guide later.

• Poryscript: This isn't really a program. It's a new programming language that can be incorporated directly into your project to make scripting easier.

• GraphicsGale: This is what I recommend for creating/altering most sprites and tilesets. I know there are other sprite editors out there, but this is the one I'm most comfortable with and it also seems to be the one that most decomp graphics tutorials use.

• Tilemap Studio: A tool for working with the decomp tilemaps, like the region map or the title screen.

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