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Author Topic: Getting advanced in assembly  (Read 1 times)
cclh12
Guest
« on: May 15, 2010, 09:07:40 am »

I know this is kinda a broad question to ask, but ever since I've been able to do simple assembly stuff I have always wanted to get into the more advanced parts of assembly hacking. I've seen people here do some crazy shit with it and I would love to get better at it. The problem is, I'm not sure how to actually do that. I know assembly hacking has no limits (except the hardware limits) so I'm aware of the possibilities it can do. Stuff like variable width font hacks, writing information to the screen (like DMA pointers, values, etc) I consider advanced and have no clue where to even start with those type of hacks.

I've been able to do simpler stuff such as reversing how a encrypted LBA works and constantly writing over a value that's in a DMA'd portion of RAM.
So I have my feet wet in the subject and am not totally lost, but at the same time, I'm not even sure how to get better to do (what I consider) the funner part of ASM hacking. Any of the pro's here had the same problem when they got started and can give me some advice?

I know you guys have documents over some hacks, but I only have experience with MIPS asm.
Most the documents here I've seen are for SNES, GB, and NES. (which obviously don't use MIPS)
Nightcrawler
Guest
« Reply #1 on: May 15, 2010, 03:06:04 pm »

A few suggestions:

1. Try increasing harder hacks to progress your skills. Or try the same hack on multiple games to better understand things on the concept or big picture level. If you take several games and do the same font hack for example, you're likely to be exposed to many ways of doing the same things or new tricks or hardware use you didn't know about. However, the differences will be small enough that it is within your grasp to figure out without being overwhelming.

2. Try doing some homebrew coding. There's no better way to really learn the hardware platform and assembly than doing it yourself from scratch. Try to get a single screen up and running. It will go a long, long ways to understand how games work and more advanced hacks.

3. Read additional hardware documentation. 50% of doing advanced hacks is better understanding of hardware so you understand what the code is really doing and what your options are of making advanced changes.

4. Help someone else out on a problem or project of theirs. Nothing reinforces your own knowledge better than helping someone else.

5. Experience. Just keep doing it. The more you do it, the more you're exposed to, and the more you challenge yourself, the more you will learn and the more proficient of a hacker you'll become.
cclh12
Guest
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2010, 07:22:21 am »

Thanks for those tips, Nightcrawler.  :beer:
I have always wanted to look into homebrew on PS2. This gives me a good reason to look into it.
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