-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Editing fonts without the

aid of a Graphics Editor!

A rather useless document
written by Neil_!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=---FAQ--o What will this document teach you to do?
- This document will teach you to find and
change standard bitplane format fonts
using nothing but a hex editor.
o Why do I need to know this when there are
tools that practicly do it for me?
- Knowledge of how fonts are stored will
not only give you a more comprehensive
idea of how thing in a ROM are stored
and arranged, but allow you to copy
and paste fonts from one ROM to another!
o What do I need to have before reading this
lovely piece of writing?
- It is expected that you have at least a
small interest in ROM Hacking, a firm
knowledge of hex math (or a calculator
that can perform hex math), a hex
editor (HexWorkshop will do nicely),
and naga (to test out your work).
o Will this document teach me to edit
compressed fonts like those in
the DragonQuest series?
- No. This document will only teach you
how to edit non compressed fonts.
---Begin--ROM files are binary files. That is,
they contain executable data run by the
system they are meant for. Also included
is various types of data used by the games.
Today we'll look at bitplane graphics. And
more specificly, "fonts". Consoles don't
look at them as fonts however, but as
simply graphics like pictures. They have
no special significance to the ROM, and
are only used as pictures, put on the screen
in the order that the program reads from the
script. This might seem rather pointless to
mention, or it might seem like a grand new
concept. Either way, there it is. ;)
How do consoles like the Gameboy, NES, and
SNES store fonts? Most games for these

consoles store at least one font in 8 pixel

by 8 pixel boxes in what we call bit plane
encoding. Picture, if you will, something
that looks like this:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
A perfectly empty 8x8 grid, ne? Well, lets
say we wanted to draw a letter in there..
The letter 'A':
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|x|x|x|x|_|_|
|_|x|_|_|_|_|x|_|
|_|x|_|_|_|_|x|_|
|_|x|x|x|x|x|x|_|
|_|x|_|_|_|_|x|_|
|_|x|_|_|_|_|x|_|
|_|x|_|_|_|_|x|_|
See the letter in there? =) If you know
how base 2 (binary) works, you probably
have a decent idea of what comes next. A
binary number is traditionally written in
8 bits, that is 00000000. If you notice,
our grid up there is exactly 8 bits long!
We could easily turn that into a nice binary
string by making the empty boxes 0s and the
boxes with the letter x in them 1s.
00000000
00111100
01000010
01000010
01111110
01000010
01000010
01000010
Ok. So now what? We've got 8 binary numbers.
Well, most ROM hackers seem to like hex, so
how about we convert those lovely binary
numbers to hex?
00000000=00h
00111100=3Ch
01000010=42h
01000010=42h
01111110=7Eh
01000010=42h
01000010=42h
01000010=42h

So, we've got 003C 4242 7E42 4242. Well,

fire up hex workshop, create a new file,
and hit <ctrl>-insert. In the box that
pops up, type in 8 and select 'hex'.
Type in 003C 4242 7e42 4242, and save
the file as 'font.fnt'. Open it up in
naga. In the upper left corner
of the display window, you should see
our lovely letter A. What's all that
other junk? Just random stuff in memory.
Ignore it all.
You've now been let on to the key to
understanding bitplane graphics. All of
the types of fonts you're going to encounter
in SNES, GB, or NES games are going to be
built off of this basic concept. It's really
not of much use to know this stuff for most
people because these days with tools like
Naga and tile layer, it's just as easy to
use them to perform basic operations. One
area where they lack currently however is
copying fonts from one game to another. Tile
Layer has support for having two files open
at once, but copying 60 or so tiles from one
game to another is a very slow and tedious
process. This is the main area where this
knowledge will come in handy. If you can open
the ROM up in Tile Layer and do a quick
conversion to binary, you can use hex workshop
to find where the font is located and simply
copy and paste the font. Tada! A job that would
have taken 30 minutes now takes 5. Knowing this
will also help you rip fonts and store them for
later use and again, easy insertion. There are
two other font types that you'll need to know
about, 2 bit plane and 4 bit plane fonts. As
I said earlier, they're basicly the same as
1 bit plane fonts, just with a little twist.
For 2 bit plane fonts, picture 2 boxes:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|

Well, 2bp (bit plane) is just like 1 bp but

with one other plane. The numbers in the other
plane influence the color of the completed
font tile. There are 4 possible colors. For
simplicity sake, we'll call them 1,2,3 and 4.
Lets say we have the following:

Plane 1
00000000
00111100
01000010
01000010
01111110
01000010
01000010
01000010

Plane 2
00000000
00000000
00000000
00000000
00000000
00000000
00000000
00000000

So plane 1 is just like it was before in our 1bp

experiment, and plane 2 is empty. In the rom, 2bp
is stored like this:
Line 1 from plane 1, line 1 from plane 2, line 2
from plane 2, and so on.
So for our example it would be stored like this:
00000000
01000010
01111110
01000010

00000000
00000000
00000000
00000000

00111100
01000010
01000010
01000010

00000000
00000000
00000000
00000000

So, convert those binary to hex!

00 00 3C 00 42 00 42 00 7E 00 42 00 42 00 42 00
Yes, this time all we did was insert a 00 after
each of the hex bytes we had last time. Open up
hexworkshop and create a new file. Insert 16 bytes.
Type in the above hex string, and open it up in
naga. Switch to 2bp mode. Looks just like the 1bp
font, right? Hmm. How do we use those other colors?
Lets try this:
Plane 1
00000000
00000000
00000000
00000000
00000000
00000000
00000000
00000000

Plane 2
00000000
00111100
01000010
01000010
01111110
01000010
01000010
01000010

So this time it would be stored like this:

00000000
00000000
00000000
00000000

00000000
01000010
01111110
01000010

00000000
00000000
00000000
00000000

00111100
01000010
01000010
01000010

So, convert those binary to hex!

00 00 00 3C 00 42 00 42 00 7E 00 42 00 42 00 42
Well lookie there! Color 3(color 1 is black,
and color 2 is the one we had with 1bp)!!

If you haven't guessed by now, color 4:

Plane 1
00000000
00111100
01000010
01000010
01111110
01000010
01000010
01000010

Plane 2
00000000
00111100
01000010
01000010
01111110
01000010
01000010
01000010

Split it up again:
00000000
01000010
01111110
01000010

00000000
01000010
01111110
01000010

00111100
01000010
01000010
01000010

00111100
01000010
01000010
01000010

Convert those binary to hex again:

00 00 3C 3C 42 42 42 42 7E 7E 42 42 42 42 42 42
Yup, indeed. After checking it out in Naga, it's
none other but the elusive color 4!
Well, I'm not bored enough to tackle 4bp here, but
after running through the motions with 2bp, you
should have a basic clue of what's going to happen.
We've got a total of 16 lovely color combinations,
and a grid that would look something like this:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
If after doing 2bp fonts you can't figure this one out
on your own, bitch in my general direction and I'll
go through the entire thing in this doc. Otherwise,
I'd rather not waste an hour of my time. :P
Those are the three major font types that you're likely
to encounter in your ROM hacking career, although knowing
some of these weird coders, you'll probably find some
interesting hybrid format somewhere or other that'll piss

you off to no end. Just remember that it's gotta be bitplane,

and thus by disecting it and playing with it for a while,
the answer will stare you in the face. As for SNES 16x16
size fonts, those can wait for v2.0 of this doc. When will
that be finished? The next time I get bored.
-Neil_